FOLLOWING 
THE  SUNRISE 


mm 


HELENBARRETTMONTGOMERY 


Q..7-i.lLi- 


^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^ 


Purchased   by  the   Hamill   Missionary   Fund. 


1- 
BV  2520  .M7 
Montgomery,  Helen  Barrett 

1861-1934. 
Fol lowing  the  sunrise 


BURMA  S    PKOPIIECY 
TREE   GROWING   OVER    IMAGE   OF   BUDDHA 


Following  the  Sunrise 


A  Century  of  Baptist  Missions,  1813-1913  ..--"[jru^  *'''-^^ 

FEB '.^3  19 


HELEN  BARRETT  MONTGOMERY 

Author  of 
"  Christus  Redemptor  "  and  "  Western  Women  in  Eastern  Lands  " 


"  I  am  the  Light  of  the  World.    He  that  followeth  me  shall  not 

walk  in  darkness,  but  shall  have  the  light  of  life." 
"  The  people  that  walked  in  darkness  have  seen  a  great  light." 


Published  in  Connection  with  the  Centennial  of  the 

AMERICAN  BAPTIST  FOREIGN  MISSION  SOCIETY 

by  the 

AMERICAN  BAPTIST  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY 

PHILADELPHIA 
BOSTON  CHICAGO  ST.  LOUIS 


Copyright  T913  by 
A   J.  ROWLAND,  Secretary 


Published  December,  1913 


TO 

THE  GOODLY  FELLOWSHIP  OF 

BAPTIST    MISSIONARIES 

IN  EVERY  LAND 

who  through  faith  subdued  kingdoms, 
wrought  righteousness,  obtained  prom- 
ises, stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,  out 
of  zveakncss  were  made  strong,  waxed 
valiant  in  fight,  turned  to  flight  the 
armies  of  the  aliens;  who  had  trial  of 
cruel  mockings,  yea,  moreover,  of  bonds 
and  imprisonment,  of  whom  the  world 
was  not  worthy;  to  them,  both  the  liv- 
ing and  the  dead,  that  great  cloud  of 
witnesses  zvho  summon  all  disciples  to 
look  to  Jesus  and  to  run  valiantly  the 
race  set  before  them  in  full  assurance 
that  their  labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord, 

THIS    IMPERFECT    STUDY 

IS 

REVERENTLY   AND   LOVINGLY   DEDICATED 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Chapter  Pagb 

I.  Back  of  the  Beginnings i 

II.  Beginnings  in   Burma 21 

III.  Among  Animists  in  Assam 65 

IV.  India,  the  Rudder  of  Asia 95 

V.  The  Chance  in  China 139 

VI.  In  the  Island  Empire 175 

VII.  Pioneering  on  the  Congo 215 

VIII.  Buttressing   Democracy    in    the    Philip- 
pines    245 

Limitations  of  Present  Study 281 

Supplementary  References 284 

Index  287 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

Tree  growing  over  image  of  Buddha ....  Frontispiece 

Early  Baptist  leaders 26 

Adoniram  Judson ^2 

Ann  Hasseltine  Judson 5-? 

A  Karen  Association  meeting 5^ 

Getting  an  audience  in  Burma 38 

Gushing  Memorial  Buildings,  Rangoon  Baptist  Gol- 

lege  50 

The  Vinton  Memorial  at  Rangoon §0 

Burmese  Ghristian  women 56 

Ghristian  Tangkhul  Nagas  at  Ukhrul yo 

In  the  Industrial  School  at  Jorhat 70 

A  heathen  Garo 86 

An  educated  Christian  Garo 86 

Ongole  High  School  for  Boys ii3 

Ramapatnam  Theological  Seminary 112 

Indian  Christian  converts  from  three  castes. 12^ 

Preaching  to  a  village  audience  in  South  India 124. 

Church  and  congregation  at  Bhimpore 132 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Pagb 

Sinclair  Orphanage  at  Balasore 1^2 

On  the  Mission  Compound  at  Sivato^u 1^0 

Chinese  Bible-women  and  missionary 1^0 

Missionaries  traveling  in  West  China 1^6 

A  morning  congregation  at  Hanyang 1^6 

Yates  Hall,  Shanghai  Baptist  College 164 

Chinese  medical  students  at  Nanking 164 

Mary  L.  Colby  School  at  Kanagazva 186 

Kindergarten  at  Morioka 186 

The  nezv  gospel  ship  in  Japan ig6 

Waseda  dormitory  students  at  Tokyo 1^6 

A  meeting  for  the  ivomen 2^0 

Orphanage  girls  at  Sona  Bata  learning  to  sezv 2^0 

Starting  for  a  tour  on  a  monocycle 240 

An  operation  under  difficulties 240 

Boys  of  Jaro  Industrial  School  at  work 262 

A  village  congregation  in  the  Philippines 262 

On  the  veranda  of  the  Union  Hospital  at  Iloilo 2^2 

A  girts'  Bible  class  in  the  Philippines 272 


BACK  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 


CHAPTER  I 
BACK  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS 

Preparation  for  Missionary  Century.  Behind  the 
beginnings  of  the  century  of  Baptist  missionary  his- 
tory now  closing,  lay  a  great  preparation  of  the  Eng- 
lish-speaking Protestant  church,  of  which  the  Baptists 
were  so  unregarded  and  insignificant  a  portion. 
Through  the  English  Revolution  of  1688,  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  and  the  French  Revolution,  the  bases 
of  democracy  had  been  so  established  that  a  new  sense 
of  the  worth  of  the  individual  had  been  developed,  a 
new  freedom  won,  and  a  new  sense  of  personal  respon- 
sibility had  been  created,  without  which  no  foreign 
missionary  movement  was  possible. 

Discovery  and  exploration  had  begun  to  batter 
down  the  thick  barriers  which  divided  nations  and 
races.  The  control  of  the  seas  and  the  leadership  in 
colonization  were  passing  from  the  Spanish  and 
Portuguese  to  the  English  and  Dutch.  The  great 
spiritual  revival  of  Methodism  had  permeated  and 
transformed  the  religious  life  of  England  and  America. 
A  new  spirit  of  prayer  had  led  to  a  movement  in 
England  in  1774  to  undertake  a  concert  of  prayer  of 
two  years  "  that  God's  kingdom  may  come " ;  and 
America,  under  the  apostolic  call  to  prayer  of  Jona- 

3 


4  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

than  Edwards,  had  entered  upon  a  seven-years  period 
of  intercession  "  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel  in  the 
most  distant  parts  of  the  habitable  globe." 

Two  Providential  Preparations.  Of  these  wider 
providential  preparations  for  the  new  era  of  missions 
it  would  be  impossible  to  speak  at  length  in  the  limits 
of  the  present  text-book.  It  is  necessary,  however,  in 
order  to  get  proper  background,  to  mention  more 
fully  two  preparatory  movements — the  missionary  or- 
ganization of  English  Baptists,  and  the  historical  prepa- 
ration of  the  American  Baptists,  which  antedated  the 
beginning  of  the  missionary  movement  in  the  nineteenth 
century. 

Carey,  "A  Consecrated  Cobbler."  On  October  5, 
1783,  in  Northampton,  England,  a  little  group  of  Bap- 
tists gathered  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Nen  to  witness 
the  baptism  of  a  young  man.  The  minister.  Doctor 
Ryland,  who  made  entry  in  his  journal,  "  This  day 
baptized  a  poor  young  shoemaker,"  little  dreamed  that 
William  Carey  would  become  within  nine  years  of 
that  day  one  of  the  great  missionary  leaders  of  the 
age.  He  was  no  ordinary  yotmg  apprentice,  even 
then.  While  he  learned  his  trade  at  the  bench  he 
studied  unremittingly.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  mar- 
ried and  set  up  a  little  stall  for  himself.  With  a  book 
by  his  side  as  he  wrought,  he  became  as  expert  in 
handling  books  as  in  repairing  shoes.  In  seven  years 
he  became  familiar  enough  with  Latin,  Greek,  He- 
brew, French,  and  Dutch  to  read  and  enjoy  books 
written  in  these  languages.  He  had  time  besides  to 
read  the  just-published  "  Voyages  of  Captain  Cook," 


BACK  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS  5 

that  was  the  talk  of  the  day.  As  he  read  this  stirring 
story  of  exploration  and  discovery  he  made  a  rude 
map  of  the  world  to  hang  upon  the  wall  of  his  little 
room,  and  on  this  he  followed  the  adventurous  voy- 
ager, and  as  he  read  he  prayed.  The  vision  of  the 
world  dawned  on  him ;  the  great  world  untouched  by 
the  message  of  the  gospel.  As  he  read  and  prayed  and 
meditated,  a  mighty  purpose  was  born  within  him. 

Called  to  Preach.  A  little  Baptist  church  invited 
him  to  become  its  pastor.  His  salary  was  about  sev- 
enty-five dollars  a  year.  By  teaching  the  village 
children  and  working  at  his  trade,  he  managed  to 
increase  this  to  a  total  income  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty  dollars  a  year.  Sometimes  he  and  his  wife  and 
children  went  hungry.  They  could  seldom  have  meat, 
but  depended  largely  on  the  vegetables  he  raised  in 
his  famous  garden.  At  length  he  was  formally  or- 
dained as  a  Baptist  minister,  and  began  endeavoring 
to  communicate  the  visions  and  purposes  stirring 
within  him  to  his  brethren  of  the  Association.  His 
ordination  sermon  was  preached  by  Andrew  Fuller,  the 
most  eminent  Baptist  minister  of  the  day.  A  story 
is  told  that  Doctor  Fuller,  one  day  wishing  to  have  a 
shoe-buckle  repaired,  stepped  into  Carey's  little  shop, 
saw  on  the  wall  the  big,  home-made  map  of  the 
heathen  world,  and  there,  for  the  first  time,  became 
acquainted  with  the  vast  dreams  stirring  in  the  heart 
of  the  young  apostle. 

A  Famous  Pamphlet.  At  that  time  Mr.  Carey  was 
writing  a  pamphlet  entitled,  "  An  Enquiry  into  the 
Obligation  of  Christians  to  use  Means  for  the  Conver- 


6  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

sion  of  the  Heathens."  When  he  had  it  written  and 
could  not  pay  to  print  it,  one  of  those  obscure  saints 
who  have  done  so  much  in  all  the  ages  to  further  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  cheerfully  gave  the  price  to  pay 
the  printer.  To-day  a  worn  copy  of  that  rare  little 
pamphlet  is  worth  its  weight  in  gold,  but  his  brother 
ministers  did  not  highly  regard  it.  At  a  meeting 
where  he  was  propounding  the  question  whether  the 
command  to  disciple  all  nations  laid  on  the  apostles 
was  not  equally  binding  on  every  generation  of  Chris- 
tians, the  chairman  shouted  out :  "  You  are  a  mis- 
erable enthusiast  to  ask  such  a  question.  Certainly 
nothing  can  be  done  before  another  Pentecost."  Doc- 
tor Ryland,  the  pastor  who  had  baptized  him,  said 
sternly  on  another  occasion :  "  Young  man,  sit  down. 
When  the  Lord  gets  ready  to  convert  the  heathen  he 
will  do  it  without  your  help  or  mine." 

"  Expect  and  Attempt."  But  finally  his  persistence 
did  gain  a  hearing.  He  was  appointed  to  preach  the 
sermon  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Association,  and 
chose  for  his  text  Isaiah  54 : 2  and  3.  The  heads  of 
his  sermon  were  two:  "Expect  great  things  from 
God ;  attempt  great  things  for  God."  While  the 
powerful  sermon  was  evidently  making  a  deep  im- 
pression, still  it  was  true  as  of  old,  "  Some  believed, 
some  doubted."  As  they  left  the  meeting  Mr.  Carey 
grasped  Andrew  Fuller's  arm,  exclaiming,  "And  are 
you,  after  all,  again  to  do  nothing?" 

A  Momentous  Meeting.  In  response  to  his  appeals 
the  Association  passed  a  minute  that  a  plan  be  pre- 
pared for  the  next  ministers'  meeting  to  form  a  Bap- 


BACK  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS  7 

tist  society  for  propagating  the  gospel  among  heathen 
nations.  A  little  later,  October  7,  1792,  there  met  in 
the  little  parlor  of  the  widow  Wallis,  in  Kettering, 
twelve  Baptist  ministers,  who  proceeded  to  form  a 
missionary  society.  Out  of  their  deep  poverty  these 
twelve  servants  of  God  contributed  thirteen  pounds, 
two  shillings,  and  sixpence.  The  richer  churches  and 
ministers  of  the  denomination  stood  aloof  from  the 
movement,  and  it  was  the  poorer  churches,  rich  in 
faith,  because  nearer  to  the  deep  and  simple  verities 
of  life,  who  by  June,  1793,  were  able  to  send  out  as 
their  first  missionaries  to  India  William  Carey,  a  min- 
ister, and  John  Thomas,  a  surgeon. 

Missions  Not  Wanted  in  India.  It  is  not  within  the 
scope  of  this  book  to  follow  in  detail  the  story  of 
these  pioneers.  The  undertaking  w^as  regarded  with 
the  utmost  scorn  by  the  great  majority  of  educated 
and  even  religious  men  in  that  generation.  It  had 
to  run  the  gauntlet  of  opposition  of  the  British  East 
India  Company,  which  at  that  time  controlled  India 
in  the  interests  of  dollar  diplomacy.  The  officers  of 
the  Company  would  not  permit  Carey  to  live  in  India, 
unless  he  took  out  a  license  as  an  indigo  planter  and 
lived  there  ostensibly  as  a  trader.  Even  as  a  planter 
Carey  was  so  harassed  in  attempting  to  do  any  mis- 
sionary work,  that  he  had  to  secure  in  the  Dutch  settle- 
ment at  Serampore  the  protection  which  his  own  flag 
denied  him.  Here  for  seven  years  he  continued  his  work 
of  translating  and  printing  the  Scriptures.  The  scholarly 
work  of  this  obscure  Baptist  missionary  is  one  of  the 
miracles  of  history. 


8  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Carey  as  a  Translator.  Says  Professor  Henry  C. 
\'edder : 

Between  1801  and  1822,  thirty-six  translations  of  the 
Scriptures,  in  whole  or  in  part,  were  made  and  edited  by 
Carey  at  Serampore.  Of  these  thirty-six  versions,  six 
were  complete  translations  of  the  Bible.  Twenty-three 
more  were  translations  of  the  entire  New  Testament. 
And  to  six  of  these  some  Old  Testament  books  were 
added  later.  In  four  cases  the  Gospels  only  were  trans- 
lated, in  whole  or  in  part.  In  making  every  one  of  these 
versions  Carey  had  some  share.  Several  of  them  he 
made  throughout.  In  other  cases  he  did  only  part  of 
the  work,  but  revised  the  whole.  In  all,  he  was  directly 
concerned  in  the  printing  of  forty-two  distinct  transla- 
tions. Four  at  least  of  these — the  Bengali,  Hindu, 
Marathi,  and  Sanskrit  were  his  exclusive  work  from  title- 
page  to  colophon.  (Slightly  condensed.) 

The  Serampore  Brotherhood.  This  first  mission 
was  started  with  the  idea  of  being  pecuniarily  inde- 
pendent of  the  home  churches.  Doctor  Carey,  Doctor 
Marshman,  and  Mr.  Ward  formed  an  organization 
known  as  the  Serampore  Brotherhood.  It  was  a 
simple  and  beautiful  example  of  Christian  com- 
munism. All  their  earnings  were  to  be  held  as  a 
sacred  trust  for  the  benefit  of  the  mission.  Their  per- 
sonal expenses  were  to  be  made  as  modest  as  possible. 
The  little  community  of  nine  adults  and  ten  children, 
with  the  native  helpers  and  assistants,  lived  a  life  of 
singular  beauty  and  happiness,  as  it  is  pictured  in 
the  remarkable  letters  of  Hannah  Marshman.  Dur- 
ing a  term  of  years  the  Brotherhood  earned  and  turned 
in  to  the  support  of  missionary  work  a  half-million 


BACK  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS  9 

dollars.  Of  this  amount,  Carey  gave  half  and  Mrs. 
Marshman  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  In  dividing 
the  work,  translation  fell  to  Carey,  the  schools  to  Marsh- 
man,  and  the  printing-press  to  Ward. 

Services  to  Science  and  Society.  Many  people  have 
an  idea  that  the  early  missionaries  were  narrow- 
minded  in  their  vision  of  the  scope  of  the  task  by 
them  begun,  in  that  they  interpreted  it  as  purely  a 
service  of  evangelism.  To  such,  the  career  of  these 
pioneer  English  Baptists  will  be  a  surprise.  The  serv- 
ices to  science  and  society  rendered  by  the  Serampore 
band  have  been  summed  up  by  a  recent  historian  as 
follows : 

The  first  complete  or  partial  translation  of  the  Bible 
printed  in  forty  languages  or  dialects  of  India,  China, 
Central  Asia,  and  other  neighboring  lands  at  a  cost  of 
eighty  thousand,  one  hundred  and  forty-three  pounds; 
the  first  prose  work  and  vernacular  newspaper  in  Ben- 
gali, the  language  of  seventy  million  human  beings ;  the 
first  printing-press  on  an  organized  scale ;  the  first  paper- 
mill  and  steam-engine  seen  in  India ;  the  first  Christian 
primary  school  in  North  India ;  the  first  efforts  to  edu- 
cate native  girls  and  women :  the  first  college  to  train 
native  ministers  and  Christianize  native  Hindus ;  the  first 
Hindu  Protestant  convert;  the  first  medical  mission; 
the  establishment  and  maintenance  of  at  least  thirty  sep- 
arate large  mission  stations ;  the  first  botanic  garden  and 
society  for  the  improvement  of  agriculture  and  horticul- 
ture in  India ;  the  first  translation  into  English  of  the 
great  Sanskrit  classics.  (Henry  C.  Vedder.) 

Influence  on  Other  Churches  in  England.  This 
enterprise  of  the  English  Baptists,  while  little  appre- 


10  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

ciated  in  many  quarters  in  England,  exerted  a  great 
influence  throughout  the  world.  The  Church  of 
England  soon  after  organized  its  foreign  missionary 
society.  The  London  Missionary  Society  organized 
by  the  English  Congregationalists,  but  having  from 
the  first  an  undenominational  charter,  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society,  and  the  Religious  Tract  Society 
are  among  the  organizations  in  whose  establishment 
one  can  trace  directly  the  influence  of  the  pioneer 
Baptist  society. 

Influence  in  America.  The  English  Baptists  exerted 
a  great  influence  in  America  also,  through  their  mis- 
sionary enterprise.  Auxiliary  groups  were  organized 
in  many  Baptist  churches  in  the  United  States  in  sup- 
port of  the  Serampore  mission.  It  is  pleasing  to  Amer- 
ican pride  to  recall  the  fact  that  at  that  time  many 
of  the  English  missionaries  sailed  to  their  field  of 
work  in  India  in  American  ships,  via  New  York.  Doc- 
tor Wayland  has  said  that  he  remembered  as  a  boy 
listening  to  English  Baptist  missionaries  who  were 
entertained  in  his  father's  home  in  New  York  City 
while  they  were  waiting  for  their  ship  to  sail  for  India. 
It  will  be  recalled  that  the  first  woman's  missionary 
society  in  the  United  States  was  organized  in  Boston 
by  Miss  Mary  Webb  to  help  in  the  support  of  the 
English  Baptist  work  in  India. 

Death  of  Carey.  In  the  death  of  William  Carey,  in 
1834,  there  passed  from  earth  one  of  the  greatest  men 
who  have  adorned  the  history  of  the  Christian  church. 
In  character  and  ability,  in  labors  and  sufferings,  he 
was  no  unworthy  successor  of  the  Great  Apostle.  The 


BACK  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS  ii 

words  which,  by  his  expressed  direction,  were  cut 
upon  the  simple  stone  which  marks  his  grave,  are 
eloquent  of  the  humility  and  simplicity  of  his  char- 
acter : 

A  wretched,  poor,  and  helpless  worm 

On  Thy  kind  arms  I  fall. 

Nothing  could  be  farther  removed  from  the  bustling 
and  self-confident  discipleship  of  to-day.  Yet  per- 
haps, in  these  words,  with  their  quaint  and  almost 
forgotten  theology,  we  may  find  the  secret  of  the 
power  which  made  William  Carey  different  from 
other  men. 

Preparation  of  American  Baptists.  We  have  traced 
briefly  and  imperfectly  the  beginnings  of  the  modern 
foreign  missionary  enterprise  in  England.  It  remains 
to  speak  of  the  further  preparation  by  which  the  Bap- 
tist churches  of  America  had  been  fitted  to  take  their 
part  in  the  world-wide  enterprise  of  Christian  mis- 
sions. The  Baptists  had  enjoyed  the  advantages  which 
come  from  thoroughgoing  and  long-continued  perse- 
cution for  opinion's  sake.  Because  of  their  peculiar 
views  they  had  found  themselves  unwelcome  in  many 
of  the  colonies,  and  in  the  defense  of  those  views  had 
undergone  whipping,  the  loss  of  property,  imprisonment, 
and  banishing. 

Some  Baptist  Principles.  The  views  which  made 
them  singular  at  that  time  are  those  held  now  by  the 
great  majority  of  Protestant  Christians.  But  in  the 
early  days  of  this  country  they  were  regarded  as 
heretical  and  dangerous.     From  the   days  of  Roger 


12  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Williams  the  glory  of  the  Baptist  denomination  has 
been  that  it  was  the  steadfast  defender  of  absolute 
freedom  of  conscience  and  complete  separation  of 
Church  and  State.  When  Roger  Williams  set  up  his 
new  government  in  the  wilderness  of  Rhode  Island 
it  was  the  first  time  in  history  that  a  civil  govern- 
ment had  recognized  the  equality  of  opinions  before 
the  law,  "  leaving,"  says  Bancroft,  "  heresy  unharmed 
by  law,  and  orthodoxy  unprotected  by  the  horrors  of 
penal  statutes.'' 

Freedom  of  Conscience  Unpopular.  It  is  difficult 
for  us  to  appreciate  how  strange  these  ideas  of  Bap- 
tist Roger  Williams  seemed  to  the  men  of  his  own 
times.  The  best  men  in  those  days  defended  the 
necessity  of  rooting  out  wrong  opinions  in  politics 
and  religion  by  fines,  imprisonment,  banishment,  or 
worse.  They  called  toleration  a  word  of  infamy,  and 
really  believed  that  unless  the  State  tried  to  make 
men  think  alike,  there  could  be  no  settled  govern- 
ment. Even  Milton's  noble  essay  in  favor  of  tolera- 
tion, called  the  Areopagiticus,  went  only  so  far  as  to 
plead  that  "  the  many  be  tolerated  rather  than  all  be 
compelled." 

Roger  Williams'  Radical  Position.  Roger  Williams 
went  further  than  this,  even  to  the  full  length  that 
men  have  come  in  the  three  hundred  years  since  he 
lived.  "  It  is  the  will  of  God,"  he  said,  "  that  a  per- 
mission of  the  most  pagan,  Jewish,  Turkish,  and  anti- 
christian  consciences  be  granted  to  all  men  in  all 
nations  and  countries."  These  brave  words  were  in 
a  little  book  which  according  to  the  quaint  custom  of 


BACK  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS  13 

the  time  had  a  most  thundering  and  imposing  title: 
"  The  Bloody  Tenet  of  Persecution  for  Cause  of  Con- 
science." The  book  had  two  editions  its  first  year; 
a  great  sale  for  those  days.  It  represented  a  dialogue 
between  two  sorrowful  angels,  Truth  and  Peace,  who, 
after  long  wanderings  over  the  earth,  had  met  in  some 
dusky  corner  to  confer  over  the  hate  and  passion  which 
curse  mankind  and  fill  the  earth  with  tumult  and  misery. 
Controversy  with  John  Cotton.  When  the  little 
book,  with  the  great  thought  and  the  long  name, 
reached  New  England  it  stirred  up  Rev.  John  Cotton 
to  make  a  reply.  This  he  did  with  great  earnestness 
arid  the  conviction  that  he  was  demolishing  a  danger- 
ous heresy.  He  called  his  work  "  The  Bloody  Tenet 
Washed  and  Made  White  in  the  Blood  of  the  Lamb." 
W^e  must  not  even  peep  between  its  pages  to  see  how 
the  good  man  tried  to  answer  Roger  Williams.  We 
must  remember,  however,  that  he  was  a  good  man 
and  true,  zealous  in  controverting  what  he,  with  nine 
out  of  ten  educated  men  of  his  day,  regarded  as  dan- 
gerous heresy.  If  there  was  one  thing  Roger  Will- 
iams loved  almost  as  well  as  succoring  some  poor 
fugitive,  or  repairing  some  injustice,  it  was  a  good 
fight.  We  are  not  surprised,  therefore,  to  find  him 
thundering  out  a  reply  to  Mr.  Cotton.  "  The  Bloody 
Tenet  yet  more  Bloody  by  Mr.  Cotton's  Endeavor  to 
Wash  it  White  in  the  Blood  of  the  Lamb,"  was  the 
name  he  gave  his  book.  They  were  hard  hitters,  the 
controversialists  of  those  days.  They  called  each  other 
names,  hard,  mouth-filling  names,  and  indulged  in 
all  sorts  of  personal  abuse. 


14  FOLLOWING  THE  SUXRISE 

In  his  reply  to  John  Cotton,  in  spite  of  its  contro- 
versial defects,  Roger  Williams  wrote  one  of  the 
noblest  defenses  of  soul-liberty  ever  written.  It  ar- 
raigns the  bloody  doctrine  of  persecution  for 
opinion's  sake  before  the  bar  of  man  and  the  bar  of 
God.  It  sweeps  in  stormy  music  through  argument, 
persuasion,  humor,  pathos,  sarcasm,  tenderness, 
hatred.  It  finally  gathers  in  a  great  surge  of  pas- 
sionate invective  to  hurl  against  the  tenet  he  abhors: 
"  Yet  this  is  a  foul,  a  black,  a  bloody  tenet;  a  tenet 
of  high  blasphemy  against  the  God  of  peace,  the  God 
of  order  who  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  mankind  to 
dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  a  tenet  against  which 
the  blessed  souls  under  the  altar  cry  aloud;  this  tenet 
having  cut  their  throats,  torn  out  their  hearts,  and 
poured  forth  their  blood  in  all  ages  as  the  only  heretics 
and  blasphemers  of  the  world ;  a  tenet  loathsome  and 
ugly,  a  tenet  that  kindles  the  devouring  flames  of 
combustions  and  wars  in  most  nations  of  the  world, 
a  tenet  all  besprinkled  with  the  bloody  murders, 
stabs,  poisonings  against  many  famous  kings,  princes, 
and  states ;  a  tenet  that  corrupts  and  spoils  the  very 
civil  honesty  and  national  conscience.  No  tenet  that 
the  world  doth  harbor  is  so  heretical,  blasphemous, 
seditious,  and  dangerous  to  the  corporeal,  to  the  spir- 
itual, to  the  present,  to  the  eternal  good  of  men  as 
the  bloody  tenet  (however  washed  or  whitened)  of 
persecution  for  cause  of  conscience." 

Triumph  of  His  Ideas.  When  Roger  Williams  died, 
an  old  man,  poor  in  money,  but  rich  in  friends,  rich 
in  faith,  rich  in  noble  enthusiasm,  the  State  he  had 


BACK  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS  15 

founded  was  one  of  the  smallest  and  weakest  in  a 
young,  weak  country.  It  did  not  seem  possible  that 
the  ideas  for  which  he  stood  were  to  influence  the 
whole  world,  and  to  control  one  of  the  greatest  nations 
of  the  earth.  Professor  Gervinus,  in  his  "  Introduc- 
tion to  the  History  of  the  Nineteenth  Century,"  sums 
up  the  matter  as  follows: 

Roger  Williams  founded  in  1636  a  small,  new  society 
in  Rhode  Island  upon  the  principles  of  entire  liberty  of 
conscience,  and  the  uncontrolled  power  of  the  majority 
in  secular  affairs.  The  theories  of  freedom  in  Church 
and  State  taught  in  the  schools  of  philosophy  in  Europe 
were  here  brought  into  practice  in  the  government  of  a 
small  community.  It  was  prophesied  that  the  democratic 
attempt  would  be  of  short  duration.  But  these  institu- 
tions have  not  only  maintained  themselves  here,  but  have 
spread  over  the  whole  Union.  They  have  superseded  the 
aristocratic  commencements  of  Carolina  and  New  York, 
the  high-church  party  of  Virginia,  the  theocracy  of  Mas- 
sachusetts. They  have  given  laws  to  one  quarter  of 
the  globe ;  and  dreaded  for  their  moral  influence,  they 
stand  in  the  background  of  every  democratic  struggle  in 
Europe. 

Baptists  in  Revolutionary  Times.  Their  steadfast 
adherence  to  these  unpopular  doctrines  had  been  at 
once  the  glory  and  the  source  of  strength  to  the  Bap- 
tist churches  of  America.  They  were  for  the  most 
part  composed  of  poor  and  obscure  men.  Most  of 
the  ministers  received  no  salaries,  but  worked  at  vari- 
ous trades  during  the  week.  At  the  time  of  the  Revo- 
lution there  were  not  a  half-dozen  highly  educated 
Baptist  ministers  in  the  entire  country,  but  the  pres- 


i6  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

sure  of  persecution  had  welded  them  into  a  brother- 
hood, and  the  progress  of  liberal  ideas  was  making 
them  increasingly  strong  throughout  the  country. 
The  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  found  the  Baptists 
doubly  zealous.  They  had  not  only  the  patriotic  stake 
common  to  all  the  colonists,  but  also  the  disabilities 
and  injustices  under  which  they  suffered,  to  impel 
them  to  throw  themselves  whole-heartedly  into  the 
great  struggle  for  human  freedom.  In  fact,  the 
majority  of  the  chaplains  in  the  Revolution  were  Bap- 
tists. With  the  accomplishment  of  the  Revolution 
the  repressive  statutes  against  the  Baptists  were  for 
the  most  part  repealed,  although  it  was  not  until  1833 
that  the  last  trace  of  repressive  legislation  disappeared 
in  Massachusetts. 

Baptist  Growth.  Following  the  close  of  the  Revo- 
lution there  came  a  considerable  expansion  in  the 
numbers  and  influence  of  the  Baptists.  In  1770  there 
had  been  but  ninety-seven  Baptist  churches  in  the 
Colonies,  and  many  of  these  so  small  that  one  pastor 
supplied  several.  A  large  number  of  churches  too 
were  entirely  dependent  on  the  chance  services  of 
traveling  evangelists  for  the  preaching  of  the  gospel. 
In  1792  the  membership  of  all  the  Baptist  churches 
was  thirty-five  thousand,  and  in  1800  they  numbered 
one  hundred  thousand.  The  proportion  of  Baptists 
was  one  to  two  hundred  and  sixty-nine  of  the  total 
population  in  1776,  and  one  to  fifty-three  of  the  popu- 
lation in  1800.  Their  history  of  persecution  and  the 
necessity  of  vigorous  upholding  of  religious  convic- 
tion had  not  been  without  evil  results.     The  danger 


BACK  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS  17 

of  the  Baptists  at  the  beginning  of  the  century  was 
that  a  certain  hardness  and  sectarian  sufficiency  had 
come  to  characterize  them,  as  they  saw  the  triumph 
ol  their  principles  so  long  opposed.  It  was  just  at 
this  time  that  the  new  vision  of  the  world's  need 
summoned  them  to  undertake  greater  tasks,  and  led 
hem  out  into  a  deeper  and  more  vital  piety. 

The  World  of  One  Hundred  Years  Ago.  The  con- 
trast in  the  numerical  status  of  the  Baptists  at  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  and  their  posi- 
tion to-day  is  not  more  striking  than  that  which 
exists  between  the  world  at  the  opening  of  the  twen- 
tieth century  and  that  of  the  nineteenth.  When  Jud- 
son  sailed,  one  hundred  years  ago,  the  population  of 
the  United  States  all  told  numbered  less  than  that 
of  New  York  State  to-day.  The  young  nation  was 
wrestling  for  its  life  in  the  second  war  with  England. 
Except  for  a  fringe  of  thinly  settled  States  along  the 
Atlantic  seaboard,  the  territory  of  the  United  States 
was  unsettled  and  for  the  most  part  unexplored. 
Roads  were  few,  communication  difficult,  credit  poor, 
money  scarce.  There  were  no  railways,  steamboats, 
trolleys,  or  telegraph  and  telephone  lines.  Europe 
was  shaken  by  Napoleonic  wars.  In  place  of  the 
German  nation  there  was  a  group  of  weak  and  jealous 
States ;  in  place  of  United  Italy  a  huddle  of  little 
despotisms  harried  under  the  big  Austrian  despotism 
of  the  North  and  the  Papal  despotism  of  the  South. 
Italy  had  become  "  only  a  geographical  expression." 
The  Turkish  power  held  southeastern  Europe  in  its 
grasp.    India,  under  the  exploitation  of  the  East  India 

B 


i8  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Company,  was  closed  to  missions.  China,  except  for 
a  few  jealously  guarded  ports,  was  a  forbidden  land. 
Japan  and  Korea  were  hermetically  sealed  against 
free  intercourse  with  the  rest  of  the  world.  Africa 
was  a  dark  land  of  mystery  and  cruelty. 

Moral  Conditions  of  a  Century  Ago.  The  moral 
condition  of  the  world  was  almost  as  depressing  as 
the  political  situation.  The  great  wave  of  infidelity 
that  swept  over  France,  Germany,  and  England  in 
the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  sharply 
felt  in  the  United  States.  Not  even  the  mighty  im- 
pulse of  the  Methodist  awakening  had  been  sufficient 
to  arouse  fully  the  churches  of  England  and  America. 
It  was  in  1802  that  the  "  Morning  Herald  "  of  London 
recorded  that  a  butcher  at  Hereford  had  sold  his  wife 
at  auction  for  one  pound,  four  shillings  at  the  last  market 
day.  Less  than  seven  per  cent  of  the  population  of  the 
United  States  were  church-members  at  the  opening  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  In  the  colleges  and  among  the 
leading  men  skepticism  was  both  flaunted  and  fash- 
ionable. The  churches  were  not  only  weak  in  num- 
bers, but  lax  in  discipline  and  discouraged.  In  the 
beginning  of  the  century  there  were  only  three  pro- 
fessing Christians  among  the  undergraduates  at  Yale, 
and  in  1813  only  one  in  Princeton  College.  Drunken- 
ness and  gambling  were  common  and  unrebuked. 
Liquor  flowed  freely  at  every  house-raising,  even 
when  a  minister  was  to  be  ordained  or  a  church  dedi- 
cated. 

The  lottery  was  so  respectable  that  it  was  not 
frowned  upon  as  a  means  of  supporting  enterprises 


BACK  OF  THE  BEGINNINGS  19 

of  highest  character.  And,  in  fact,  it  was  not  at  all 
unusual  for  a  church  about  to  build  to  appeal  to  the 
legislature  for  a  franchise  to  run  a  lottery  in  order  to 
raise  the  necessary  funds. 

The  Awakening.  It  is  easy  to  see  by  the  perspective 
of  a  century  that  the  beginnings  of  the  missionary 
enterprise,  feeble  though  they  were,  marked  the  turn 
of  the  tide.  The  foreign  mission  enterprise  was  both 
the  sign  and  the  stimulus  of  the  new  life,  acting  and 
reacting  on  the  life  of  the  Church.  When  the  philo- 
sophic history  of  the  nineteenth  century  comes  to  be 
written  there  is  little  doubt  but  that  foreign  missions 
will  be  appraised  as  one  of  the  profound  movements 
of  the  human  spirit  breathed  upon  by  the  Divine 
Spirit. 

Bibliography 

Culrocs,  Carey  the  Pioneer  Missionary.     Philadelphia,  American 

Baptist  Publication  Society. 
Marshman,    The   Serampore   Missionaries.     New    York,    Ward, 

1867. 
Williams,  Seramp^ore  Letters.    New  York,  Putnams,  1892. 
Straus,  Roger  Williams. 
Tilley,  British  in   India,   1600-1828.     Boston,   Houghton,   Mifflin 

and  Company. 
Montgomery,    Western    Women   in   Eastern   Lands,  pp.    11,    12. 

New  York,  Macmillan  Company,  1911. 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA 


BURMA 

SIIOWIXO 

STATIONS 

or  THE 

A3IKRICAN  BAPTIST 
FORKKiN  MISSION  80CIETT 

Stations  of  A. B.p.n.R.:  Moulmeln 

SOLE  OF    MIL68 

■       I 1  I-  ^ 


B      Um^ltude    V6      But  from    C  Orccnwlob  08 


CHAPTER  II 
BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA 

Beginning    of    the    Moral    Awakening.      As    the 

Reformation  of  the  thirteenth  century  began  with  a 
young  man,  St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  and  his  twelve 
disciples,  and  the  arousing  of  the  Catholic  Church  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  with  Ignatius  Loyola  and 
his  six  disciples,  so  the  missionary  awakening  of  the 
Protestant  church  of  America,  about  a  hundred  years 
ago,  began  with  a  group  of  five  young  college  stu- 
dents. Their  story  is  the  richly  illuminated  border 
wrought  by  God's  providence  to  embellish  the  text 
of  the  apostle,  "  The  foolishness  of  God  is  wiser  than 
man ;  the  weakness  of  God  is  stronger  than  man ;  and 
God  hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to 
confound  the  things  that  are  mighty." 

The  Haystack  Prayer-Meeting.  When  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1806,  a  thunder-shower  drove  to  the  shelter 
of  a  haystack  five  students  in  Williams  College, 
nothing  was  more  improbable  than  that  anything  they 
could  do  or  say  should  have  echoes  heard  around  the 
world.  They  had  been  talking  of  the  spiritual  dark- 
ness of  so  large  a  portion  of  the  world  and  had  been 
debating  the  bearing  of  Christ's  last  command  on 
their  own  lives.  As  they  waited  for  the  shower  to 
end,  Samuel  J.  Mills  proposed  that  they  devote  them- 

23 


24  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

selves  to  sending  the  gospel  to  the  heathen.  In 
response  to  the  objections  of  his  comrades  that  this 
was  too  great  an  enterprise  for  them  to  undertake, 
he  said,  in  words  which  will  never  die,  "  We  can  do  it 
if  we  will."  Then  they  knelt  down  and  prayed,  and, 
the  shower  being  over,  went  quietly  home.  The 
people  whom  they  passed  were  as  unaware  that  a 
crisis  hour  in  the  history  of  the  world  had  come  as 
were  those  others  who  thronged  the  Master  on  his 
way  to  Calvary,  long  ago. 

Obstacles  in  the  Way.  Nothing  could  be  more 
quixotic,  more  impossible  to  the  eye  of  calculating 
diplomacy  than  the  undertaking  to  which  they  had 
devoted  themselves.  In  1806  not  a  denomination  in 
the  United  States  had  a  purely  foreign  missionary 
organization,  and  the  English  Baptist  Missionary 
Society  and  the  London  Missionary  Society  had  been 
organized  scarcely  more  than  a  decade.  The  senti- 
ment of  the  vast  majority  of  Christians  was  actively 
opposed  to  such  an  organization.  Money  was  not 
abundant.  There  were  almost  no  avenues  of  pub- 
licity through  which  to  reach  the  churches,  and  the 
avenues  of  approach  to  the  non-Christian  world  were 
for  the  most  part  tightly  closed.  But  God  could  use 
these  men,  and  he  did. 

Recruits  at  Andover.  These  five  young  men, 
Samuel  J.  Mills,  James  Richards,  Francis  L.  Robbins, 
Harvey  Loomis,  and  Byram  Green,  with  other  stu- 
dents of  like  mind,  formed  a  brotherhood,  which  met 
regularly  to  pray  for  the  salvation  of  the  heathen 
world.     Later,  when  three  of  these  young  men  entered 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  25 

Andover  Theological  Seminary,  they  met  with 
another  group  of  students  whom  God  had  led  to  a 
similar  devotion  of  their  lives:  Samuel  Nott,  Samuel 
Newell,  and  Adoniram  Judson.  These  men  joined  the 
brotherhood,  and  all  continued  to  meet  and  to  plan 
ways  in  which  they  might  realize  their  common  pur- 
pose. Judson  became  the  recognized  leader  of  the 
group. 

Organization  of  the  American  Board.  Their  first 
idea  was  to  write  to  one  of  the  English  missionary 
societies  for  appointment,  but  through  the  good 
advice  of  Prof.  Moses  Stuart  they  were  induced  to  lay 
their  hopes  before  the  general  association  of  the  Con- 
gregational churches.  As  a  result  of  their  solemn  and 
moving  appeal,  the  first  denominational  society  in 
America  for  the  promotion  of  foreign  missions  was 
organized  September  5,  1810.  This  was  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  repre- 
senting a  group  of  Congregational  churches.  But  even 
then  the  faith  of  the  directors  was  too  weak  to  undertake 
full  financial  responsibility  for  the  enterprise ;  and  corre- 
spondence was  entered  into  with  the  London  Missionary 
Society,  proposing  joint  support.  This  proposition  was 
declined,  and  it  was  a  year  before  the  American  Board 
plucked  up  courage  to  appoint  Adoniram  Judson,  Samuel 
Newell,  Samuel  Nott,  Gordon  Hall,  and  later,  Luther 
Rice,  as  its  first  missionaries.  During  this  year  missionary 
enthusiasm  received  a  strong  impetus  from  the  visit 
of  William  Johns  in  the  interest  of  the  Serampore 
mission  of  the  English  Baptists.  His  appeals  through- 
out New  England  had  no  small  part  in  securing  the 


26  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

support  of  the  people  for  the  projected  mission  of 
the  American   Board. 

The  churches  responded  feebly  to  appeals  for 
money;  but  after  long  and  careful  consideration,  the 
Board  voted  to  send  the  men  out  in  faith  that  God 
who  was  so  evidently  leading  the  enterprise  would 
provide  the  funds.  Within  three  weeks  of  this  deci- 
sion, six  thousand  dollars  came  in  from  all  quarters. 
The  announcement  of  the  first  large  bequest  for  for- 
eign missions,  $30,000  from  Mrs.  Alary  Norris  of 
Salem,  still  further  encouraged  the  little  circle  of  sup- 
porters. Adoniram  Judson  and  Samuel  Newell,  with 
their  wives,  sailed  from  Salem  on  the  nineteenth  day 
of  February,  1812,  and  Luther  Rice,  Gordon  Hall,  and 
Samuel  Nott  a  little  later  from  Philadelphia. 

Judson  and  Rice  Become  Baptists.  The  events  of 
the  few  months  following  the  sailing  of  the  young 
missionaries  and  their  brides  were  to  demonstrate 
how  God  was  using  the  consecration  of  these  young 
men,  not  only  to  stir  the  Congregational  and  Pres- 
byterian churches,  but  also  to  bring  the  Baptists 
within  the  sweep  of  world-wide  evangelism.  On  the 
long  voyage  to  India  by  slow  sailing-vessels,  both 
Judson  and  Rice,  quite  unknown  to  each  other,  as 
they  sailed  in  different  ships,  were  led  to  examine 
anew  the  Scriptural  grounds  of  their  belief  on  the 
subject  of  baptism,  and  both  arrived  ultimately  at 
the  same  conclusion,  namely,  that  the  Baptist  posi- 
tion was  that  justified  by  the  New  Testament.  Some 
time  after  reaching  Calcutta  they  were  immersed  by 
one  of  the  English  Baptist  missionaries.     Later,  while 


EARLY   BAPTIST   LEADERS 
I.   RICHARD   FURMAN  2.    LUCIUS    BOLLES 

3.    THOMAS   BALDWIN  4.    FRANCIS    WAYLAND 

5.    WILLIAM    STAUGHTON  6.    DANIEL    SHARP 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  27 

on  the  Isle  of  France,  it  was  decided  that  Luther 
Rice  should  at  once  return  to  America  to  lay  the  mat- 
ter before  the  Baptists,  and  to  urge  upon  them  the 
adoption  of  these  young  missionaries  as  their  own. 
It  was  the  hardest  trial  in  the  life  of  Adoniram  Jud- 
son  to  write  the  account  of  his  changed  views  to  the 
Board  which  had  sent  him  out.  Yet  that  which  seemed 
such  a  tragedy  to  the  infant  undertaking  proved,  by  God's 
grace,  a  wonderful  stimulus  in  widening  the  circle  of 
missionary  interest  and  responsibility. 

Luther  Rice  Returns  to  America.  The  young  mis- 
sionaries thus  cast  adrift  in  a  strange  land,  had  good 
hopes  of  enlisting  the  Baptists  of  America  to  begin 
an  enterprise  of  their  own,  and  Luther  Rice  proved 
just  the  man  for  the  task.  Word  had  been  at  once 
sent  to  the  Rev.  Thomas  Baldwin,  D.  D.,  of  Boston, 
and  the  Rev.  Lucius  Bolles,  of  Salem,  asking  them 
to  use  their  influence  to  secure  the  cooperation  of 
the  Baptists  of  Massachusetts.  These  Baptists 
adopted  Mr.  Judson  as  their  missionary,  and  ap- 
pointed Mr.  Rice  to  speak  in  Philadelphia,  and  then 
to  go  throughout  the  churches  of  the  South.  Within 
a  year  he  had  organized  twenty-five  auxiliaries.  Scant 
justice  has  been  done  to  the  memory  of  this  young 
man,  whose  self-denying  labors  in  the  homeland  were 
as  necessary  a  part  of  the  missionary  enterprise  as 
were  those  of  Judson  in  Burma.  He  traveled  con- 
stantly from  church  to  church,  he  gave  himself  but 
five  or  six  hours  daily  for  sleep,  he  denied  himself  all 
but  the  bare  necessities  of  life,  and  for  twenty  years, 
without  wife,  or  child,  or  home,  in  constant  weariness 


28  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

of  journeyings  among  the  churches  in  city  and  in  country, 
he  urged  the  claims  of  missions  and  of  ministerial  edu- 
cation. 

The  Baptists  Organize,  In  Philadelphia,  May  18, 
1814,  thirty-six  delegates  from  eleven  States  and  the 
District  of  Columbia  met,  and  on  the  twenty-first  organ- 
ized "  The  General  Missionary  Convention  of  the  Baptist 
Denomination  in  the  United  States  of  America  for 
Foreign  Missions,"  afterward  known  as  the  Triennial 
Convention  because  it  met  but  once  in  three  years. 
For  thirty  years  all  foreign  missionary  work  of  the 
Baptist  denomination  in  America  was  done  through 
this  Convention ;  but  in  1844  the  unhappy  divisions 
growing  out  of  the  anti-slavery  agitation  led  to  a 
separation  between  the  Baptists  of  the  North  and 
those  of  the  South.  The  churches  South  organized 
the  following  year  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention, 
which  continues  to  this  day  their  agent  for  foreign 
missionary  activities.  In  1846  the  Northern  churches 
arranged  to  carry  on  tlieir  foreign  missionary  work 
through  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union, 
with  headquarters  in  Boston.  After  the  organization 
of  the  Northern  Baptist  Convention,  the  name  of  this 
organization  was  changed  in  1910  to  "  American  Bap- 
tist Foreign  Mission  Society." 

Driven  Out  of  India.  The  difficulty  in  securing 
financial  support  was  the  least  of  the  troubles  of  the 
Judsons.  The  East  India  Company  was  implacable 
in  its  opposition  to  missions,  an  opposition  strength- 
ened at  this  moment  by  the  news  of  the  war  between 
England    and    America.      Ten    days    after    leaving 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  29 

Serampore  all  the  missionaries  were  peremptorily 
ordered  to  leave  the  country  and  return  to  America. 
Permission  was  finally  secured  to  embark  in  a  vessel 
bound  for  the  Isle  of  France,  and  the  Judsons,  who 
had  failed  to  secure  a  pass,  found  a  sea-captain  who 
agreed  to  take  them  without  a  pass.  They  were  over- 
taken when  two  days  down  the  river  by  a  government 
despatch  boat  and  forced  to  go  ashore.  When  all 
hopes  of  escaping  deportation  to  England  seemed 
gone,  a  mysterious  letter  containing  a  pass  on  the  very 
ship  which  they  had  been  compelled  to  leave  was 
handed  to  Mr.  Judson.  The  source  of  this  kindness 
he  never  knew.  They  started  with  their  precious  pass 
in  the  dead  of  night,  rowed  hard  all  night  and  all  day 
over  seventy  miles  of  the  river,  on  the  desperate 
chance  that  the  vessel  might  not  yet  have  sailed ;  and 
at  dawn,  exhausted,  saw  the  "  Creole  "  lying  at  anchor. 
The  Judsons  and  Luther  Rice  were  for  some  time  in 
the  Isle  of  France.  The  Judsons  subsequently  went 
to  Madras,  and  were  again  ordered  to  be  deported. 
After  a  series  of  exciting  adventures,  in  order  to  es- 
cape being  sent  to  England  they  finally  took  refuge 
in  a  ship  bound  for  Burma,  at  that  time  an  independ- 
ent kingdom  under  a  despotic  and  semi-civilized  gov- 
ernment.   To  Judson  it  was  the  last  resort. 

A  mission  to  Rangoon  we  had  been  accustomed  to 
regard  with  feelings  of  horror,  but  it  was  now  brought 
to  a  point;  we  must  either  venture  there  or  be  sent  to 
Europe.  All  other  paths  were  shut  up ;  and  thus  situated, 
though  dissuaded  by  all  our  friends  at  Madras,  we  com- 
mitted ourselves  to  God,  and  embarked. 


30  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Beginning  Work  in  Burma.  There  have  been  few 
more  difficult  or  more  unpromising  situations.  They 
were  alone,  unprotected,  under  a  cruel  and  despotic 
government.  Rangoon  was  at  that  time  a  straggling 
fishing-town,  pestilential,  and  unlovely.  They  did  not 
yet  know  what  action  the  Baptists  of  America  would 
take  in  regard  to  their  support.  The  audacity  of  the 
undertaking  was  staggering.  Here  this  young  Ameri- 
can of  twenty-five  and  his  bride  addressed  themselves 
to  learn  a  language  of  which  they  had  neither  gram- 
mar nor  printed  helps,  among  a  people  to  whose  cus- 
toms and  ideas  they  were  utter  strangers.  Here  Mrs. 
Judson  brought  forth  her  first  baby  with  no  attendant 
save  her  husband.  Here,  while  toiling  terribly  to 
learn  the  language,  the  Judsons  lost  no  opportunity 
to  speak  or  write  to  those  about  them  in  regard  to  the 
great  purpose  for  which  they  had  come — the  dissem- 
ination of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  It  was  not  until  1815 
that  they  learned  of  the  action  of  the  Triennial  Con- 
vention in  formally  adopting  them  as  the  first  mis- 
sionaries of  the  American  Baptists.  Meanwhile,  a 
little  wayside  chapel  had  been  built  in  which  Mr. 
Judson  received  any  who  would  come  to  him,  and 
here  he  reasoned  with  them  of  life  and  death,  of  God 
and  the  soul,  and  the  love  of  Christ. 

First-Fruits.  At  last  the  thrilling  day  came  when 
he  faced  his  first  inquirer,  six  years  from  the  time  he 
had  landed  at  Rangoon.  Soon  after  came  the  exquisite 
joy  of  secretly  baptizing  their  first  timid  convert,  for 
it  was  death  for  a  Buddhist  to  apostatize  at  this  time. 
When,  at  nightfall,  two  others  were  later  baptized, 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  31 

Mrs.  Jitdson  wrote  to  a  friend  in  America,  "  We  felt, 
on  the  banks  of  the  water,  as  a  little,  feeble,  solitary 
band.  Perhaps  Jesus  looked  down  on  us,  and  pitied 
and  forgave  our  weaknesses."  Slowly,  one  by  one, 
the  group  of  believers  augmented  until  in  1822  Mr. 
Judson  baptized  the  eighteenth  convert.  In  1820  this 
infant  Burmese  church  addressed  a  letter  to  the  breth- 
ren in  America  that  thrills  one  with  a  sense  of  apos- 
tolic fervor.  It  began,  "  Brethren  all,  who  live  in 
America,  the  brethren  who  live  in  Burma  address 
you," — and  closed  with  this  postscript,  "  Brethren, 
there  are  in  the  country  nine  persons  who  have  be- 
come disciples," 

Days  in  the  Prison  Pen.  Dark  and  terrible  days 
were  ahead  of  the  little  church.  Since  the  Apostle 
Paul  penned  the  story  of  his  sufferings  for  the  gospel, 
there  is  no  more  heroic  story  than  that  of  the  hard- 
ships endured  by  the  Judsons  during  this  period. 
With  the  outbreak  of  war  between  Burma  and  Eng- 
land in  1824,  Air.  Judson  and  Doctor  Price  were 
thrown  into  the  death-prison  at  Ava,  there  to  lie  in  a 
hot,  stifling,  dark,  and  filthy  hovel,  in  which  lay  hud- 
dled a  hundred  prisoners  in  heavy  chains.  Here,  with 
no  food  except  what  his  heroic  wife  could  get  to  him, 
part  of  the  time  dragging  five  heavy  fetters,  Judson 
was  confined  for  eleven  months.  At  the  end  of  that 
time  the  prisoners  were  removed  to  the  death-prison 
at  Aungbinle  for  execution,  under  conditions  of  such 
terrible  suffering  that  one  of  them  died  on  the  journey. 
No  aspect  of  horror  was  wanting:  the  filth  and  stench 
of  the  dungeon,  the  ferocity  and  cruelty  of  the  jailers, 


32  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

tlie  physical  tortures  to  which  the  prisoners  were  sub- 
jected, the  daily  selection  of  one  or  another  for  death, 
the  roars  of  the  captive  lioness,  who,  in  her  cage  next 
the  dungeon,  was  slowly  starved  to  death  because  she 
was  the  emblem  of  the  English,  the  never-ceasing 
apprehension  of  what  their  own  fate  might  be,  the 
stifling  heat,  the  constant  attacks  of  fever,  the  insuf- 
ficiency of  food  and  water, 

Ann  Hasseltine  Judson,  Heroine.  During  her  hus- 
band's imprisonment  Ann  Hasseltine  Judson  showed 
that  she  was  made  of  the  stuff  of  heroes.  Although 
the  only  free  European  in  the  city,  and  absolutely 
without  protection,  she  never  lost  her  faith  or  courage. 
She  besieged  the  governor  daily  with  argument  and 
petition  for  the  release  of  her  husband,  she  begged 
food  from  door  to  door,  she  brought  clothing  and 
drink  to  the  prisoners,  she  bribed  the  jailers  to  miti- 
gate a  little  now  and  then  the  cruel  sufferings  of  their 
victims,  she  built  a  little  bamboo  shelter  in  the  yard 
where  during  the  day  the  prisoners  were  allowed  to 
stay,  and  under  this  protected  her  husband  from  the 
buming  heat  of  the  sun.  After  the  death  of  the  lioness 
she  secured  the  lion's  cage  as  a  shelter  for  him.  Dur- 
ing the  imprisonment,  attended  only  by  a  faithful 
servant,  she  gave  birth  to  a  little  daughter,  and  as 
soon  as  she  could  walk,  staggering  from  weakness,  she 
appeared  again  at  the  prison  with  her  frail  baby  in 
her  arms  to  take  up  once  more  her  daily  ministrations 
to  her  husband  and  the  other  prisoners.  When  the 
prisoners  were  secretly  removed  to  Aungbinle  she 
followed.     Here  she  nursed  her  baby  and  her  native 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  33 

helpers  through  smallpox,  contracted  the  disease  her- 
self, and  was  later  brought  to  death's  door  with 
spotted  fever.  During  the  time  of  her  terrible  illness 
at  Aungbinle,  Mr.  Judson,  although  not  released  from 
the  prison,  was  allowed  to  go  about  comewhat  more 
freely,  and  dragging  his  heavy  fetters  he  used  to  take 
the  little  wailing  baby  in  his  arms  from  door  to  door, 
begging  kind  Burmese  mothers  to  give  it  nourishment. 

A  Pen  Portrait  by  Her  Husband.  We  are  indebted 
to  the  loving  portrayal  of  her  husband,  many  years 
later,  for  our  only  picture  of  the  young  heroine  as  she 
appeared  during  those  terrible  days.  It  seems  that  on 
the  advice  of  her  friend,  a  Burmese  princess,  wife  of 
the  governor  of  the  palace,  she  had  adopted  Burmese 
dress  as  an  added  safeguard.  "  Behold  her,  then,", 
said  Mr.  Judson,  "  her  dark  curls  carefully  straight- 
ened, drawn  back  from  her  forehead,  and  a  fragrant 
cocoa  blossom  drooping  like  a  white  plume  from  a 
knot  upon  the  crown ;  her  saffron  vest  thrown  open 
to  display  the  folds  of  crimson  beneath ;  and  a  rich 
silken  skirt,  wrapped  closely  about  her  fine  figure, 
parting  at  the  ankle  and  sloping  back  upon  the  floor. 
Behold  her,  standing  in  the  doorway  (for  she  was 
never  permitted  to  enter  the  prison),  her  little  blue- 
eyed  blossom,  wailing  as  it  almost  always  did,  upon 
her  bosom,  and  the  chained  father  crawling  forth  to 
the  meeting." 

Joy  Cometh  in  the  Morning.     When  the  war  was 

ended  in  1826,  Mr.  Judson,  after  rendering  valuable  aid 

as  translator  and  interpreter  during  the  negotiations 

between   the    English   and    Burmese,   found   himself, 

c 


34  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

with  wife  and  baby  by  his  side,  on  the  deck  of  a  boat 
floating  cahnly  down  the  IrawacH  on  a  cool  moon- 
Hght  night,  a  free  man.  "  I  can  never  regret  my  twen- 
ty-one months  of  misery,"  he  said,  "  when  I  recall  that 
one  delicious  thrill.  I  think  I  have  had  a  better  appre- 
ciation of  what  heaven  may  be  ever  since." 

Judson's  Courage  in  Prison.  Not  once  during  the 
long  months  of  imprisonment  had  Judson  given  way 
to  despair.  While  undergoing  extreme  suffering  he 
used  to  encourage  his  fellow  prisoners,  by  reminding 
them  that  the  outcome  of  the  war  was  sure  to  turn  out 
to  the  weakening  of  the  power  of  the  tyrannical  gov- 
ernment. 

Think  what  the  consequence  of  this  invasion  must 
be.  Here  have  I  been  ten  years  preaching  the  gospel  to 
timid  listeners  who  wish  to  embrace  the  truth  but  dare 
not;  beseeching  the  emperor  to  grant  liberty  of  con- 
science to  his  people,  but  without  success ;  and  now,  when 
all  human  means  seem  at  an  end,  God  opens  the  way  by 
leading  a  Christian  nation  to  subdue  the  country.  It  is 
possible  that  my  life  may  be  spared ;  if  so,  with  what 
gratitude  and  ardor  shall  I  pursue  my  work ;  and  if  not, 
His  will  be  done.  The  door  will  be  opened  for  others 
who  will  do  the  work  better. 

Escape  of  Wade  and  Hough.  At  the  end  of  the  war 
the  work  of  years  at  Rangoon  seemed  swept  away  and 
the  little  mission  completely  broken  up.  Mr.  Wade 
and  Mr.  Hough,  Judson's  fellow  missionaries,  had  es- 
caped with  their  lives  by  what  seemed  a  miracle.  The 
orders  had  been  given  for  their  execution,  the  execu- 
tioners had  sharpened  their  knives,  and  strewn  the 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  35 

floor  with  sand  to  receive  their  blood,  the  prisoners 
with  bared  necks  had  knelt  to  receive  the  blow,  when 
a  broadside  from  the  English  war  vessels  so  fright- 
ened the  executioners  that  they  threw  down  their 
knives  and  fled.  Meanwhile,  the  wives  of  the  heroic 
missionaries,  disguised  as  Burmese  servants,  had 
eluded  arrest,  and  when  rescued  by  the  English  were 
all  sent  to  Calcutta  for  safe-keeping.  Here  they  were 
joined  by  George  Dana  Boardman,  a  new  recruit  for 
the  mission. 

Mission  Removed  to  Moulmein.  It  was  out  of  the 
question  to  think  of  remaining  at  Rangoon,  as  the 
English  were  merely  holding  the  place  temporarily. 
It  was,  therefore,  thought  best  to  remove  the  mission 
to  that  portion  of  the  territory  ceded  by  the  king  to 
the  English,  a  strip  extending  five  hundred  miles  along 
the  seacoast.  Here  it  was  decided  to  establish  the 
mission  in  Amherst,  a  new  town  which  the  British 
government  was  building  to  be  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment. Through  an  unfortunate  misunderstanding,  how- 
ever, between  the  civil  and  military  commissioners,  the 
latter,  Sir  Archibald  Campbell,  decided  to  make  another 
town,  named  Moulmein,  the  headquarters  of  the  army. 
When  it  became  evident  that  Moulmein  and  not  Amherst 
was  to  be  the  successful  aspirant  for  population,  the  mis- 
sion was  again  moved  thither  to  a  site  presented  by  Sir 
Archibald  Campbell,  about  a  mile  from  the  army  post. 
Here  Mr.  Boardman  brought  his  young  bride,  to  "  a 
lonely  spot,  for  the  thick  jungle,  close  at  hand,  was  the 
haunt  of  wild  beasts,  whose  howls  sounded  dismally  on 
the  ears  in  the  night-time." 


36  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Death  of  Mrs.  Judson.  Within  a  few  months  after 
the  close  of  the  war,  while  her  hushand  was  still  at  Ava 
conducting  negotiations  regarding  the  treaty,  Mrs.  Jud- 
son died  at  Amherst.  Six  months  later  her  little  Maria 
was  laid  hy  her  side  under  the  hopia  tree — "the  tree  of 
hope."  The  agonizing  suspense,  the  wearing  illness  had 
proved  too  much  for  the  frail  body,  but  the  light  of  her 
dauntless  soul  burned  undimmed  to  the  last.  Her  life,  so 
pure,  so  lofty,  so  heartening  in  its  heroism,  is  the  precious 
possession  of  all  Christian  women. 

Judson's  Translation  of  the  Bible.  It  is  difficult  to 
estimate  the  depth  and  weight  of  influence  of  an 
apostolic  man  like  Judson,  but  in  the  long  procession 
of  the  centuries  it  may  well  be  that  his  widest  and 
most  permanent  influence  will  emanate  not  from  his 
work  as  an  evangelist,  ever  the  dearest  and  most  con- 
genial to  his  spirit,  but  from  the  laborious  drudgery 
of  translation,  proof-reading,  and  publishing  to  which 
he  compelled  his  eager  spirit.  When  he  fell  on  his 
knees  in  gratitude  to  God  over  his  completed  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible  into  Burmese,  he  had  finished  one  of 
the  noblest  translations  ever  made,  a  work  that  was 
to  exert  the  same  influence  over  the  intellectual  and 
spiritual  life  of  Burma  that  the  translations  of  Wyclif 
and  Luther  had  over  England  and  Germany.  "  I  have 
commended  it  to  His  mercy  and  grace;  I  have  dedi- 
cated it  to  His  glory,"  wrote  Judson  in  a  humble  post- 
script of  praise  and  dedication. 

Bible  at  Aungbinle.  One  of  the  cherished  stories  in 
regard  to  Judson's  Bible  is  that  relating  to  the  loss 
and  recovery  of  a  portion  of  the  manuscript.    In  order 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  37 

to  preserve  the  precious  pages,  the  work  of  years,  Mrs, 
Judson  had  hidden  it  in  a  cushion  which  she  sewed  up 
in  a  pillow-case,  and  took  to  him  to  use  during  his 
imprisonment  at  Ava.  When  the  prisoners  were  hur- 
riedly removed  from  Ava  to  Aungbinle  the  cushion 
was  carelessly  thrown  out  in  the  yard,  and  here  the 
hidden  manuscript  was  rescued  by  a  faithful  servant, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  war  was  recovered  by  the  Jud- 
sons. 

The  Karens.  With  the  close  of  the  war  and  the  re- 
moval of  the  headquarters  to  Rangoon  a  new  chapter 
in  the  story  of  Baptist  missions  opened.  Heretofore 
the  work  had  been  for  the  most  part  among  the  Bur- 
mans;  from  this  time  on,  its  greatest  development  was 
to  be  among  the  Karens,  or  "  wild  men."  These  were 
a  subject  people  found  throughout  Burma,  but  located 
for  the  most  part  far  back  in  the  jungle.  The  paths 
that  led  to  their  hamlets  were  obscurely  marked,  along 
steep  declivities  and  in  the  dry  bed  of  mountain 
streams.  They  spoke  a  different  language  from  the 
Burmese,  by  whom  they  had  been  persecuted  and 
oppressed  until  they  were  a  timid,  irresolute,  and 
servile  people,  filthy  and  drunken.  These  Karens, 
numbering  one-tenth  of  the  population,  were  parts  of 
a  far  more  numerous  aboriginal  race,  scattered  from 
Tibet  southward  through  China  and  Siam.  Mr.  Jud- 
son had  first  observed  them  in  Rangoon ;  "  small 
parties  of  strange,  wild-looking  men,  clad  in  unshapely 
garments."  They  were  called  "  Karen  pigs  "  by  the 
Burmese,  and  treated  with  great  cruelty.  It  meant 
death  to  a  Karen  to  be  found  with  a  book  in  his  pos- 


38  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

session.  As  late  as  1851,  the  Burmese  viceroy  of  Ran- 
goon told  Air.  Kincaid  that  he  would  instantly  shoot 
the  first  Karen  he  found  who  could  read. 

Karen  Traditions.  The  Karens  were  not  Buddhists, 
but  spirit  worshipers.  They  had  strange  traditions  of 
a  father,  God,  named  "  Yuah,"  whom  they  once  had 
worshiped,  and  of  a  book  of  life  which  they  had  lost. 
This  book,  they  believed,  would  he  recovered  some 
day  when  strangers  coming  in  ships  from  the  West 
should  bring  back  the  book  of  God.  Meanwhile,  they 
believed  that  God  had  forsaken  them  because  of  their 
sins,  and  they  propitiated  the  evil  spirits,  or  nats,  who 
thronged  the  dim  depths  of  the  forest.  So  similar 
were  many  of  their  traditions  to  the  records  in  Genesis 
that  it  is  evident  that  at  some  time  in  their  wander- 
ings, through  some  source,  they  had  been  taught  these 
stories. 

The  Karen  a  Living  Witness.  The  story  of  the 
introduction  of  Christianity  among  these  simple  and 
debased  people,  is  one  of  the  wonderful  chapters  in  the 
history  of  Christian  missions.  Out  of  this  despised 
race  Christ  has  created  a  new  nation.  The  breath  of 
God  has  blown  upon  these  slain  in  the  valley  of  dry 
bones  and  they  have  lived  and  stood  upon  their  feet, 
an  exceeding  great  army.  One  who  to-day  goes 
among  the  Christian  Karen  villages,  sees  the  neat 
homes,  the  tasteful  dress,  the  little  schoolhouse  built 
and  maintained  by  their  own  voluntary  taxation,  hears 
the  church  bell  summon  them  to  listen  to  the  preach- 
ing of  their  own  pastor,  cannot  believe  that  seventy- 
five  years  ago  their  ancestors  were  cowering  savages 


A    KAREN    ASSOCIATION    MEETING 


GETTING   AN    AUDIENCE   IN    BURMA 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  39 

without  homes,  or  property,  or  education,  or  hope. 
The  Karen  is  a  living  witness  of  the  power  of  the 
gospel. 

Ko  Tha  Byu,  the  Karen  Apostle.  The  human 
agent  through  whom  the  missionaries  gained  their 
first  access  to  the  Karens  was  a  fresh  illustration  of 
the  power  of  God  to  use  the  unlikeliest  means.  He 
was  a  robber  and  murderer,  a  slave  of  violent  temper, 
indolent  and  ignorant,  stupid  and  no  longer  young,  by 
name  Ko  Tha  Byu.  He  had  been  redeemed  from  his 
master  by  a  Christian  Burnian,  and  by  him  transferred 
to  the  family  of  Mr.  Judson,  as  a  house  servant. 
While  serving  the  Judsons  in  Moulmein  his  poor, 
maimed  soul  seemed  slowly  to  respond  to  the  truth, 
and  when  in  the  spring  of  1828  Mr.  Boardman  re- 
solved to  make  Tavoy  the  center  of  his  Karen  work, 
he  took  Ko  Tha  Byu  with  him  to  interpret  his  sermons 
from  Burmese  to  Karen.  Here,  on  May  sixteenth,  he 
was  baptized,  the  first  Karen  convert.  His  services 
were  of  the  utmost  value  to  Judson,  Wade,  Boardman, 
and  Mason  in  their  early  attempts  to  reach  the  Karens. 
The  people  were  so  wild  and  timid  that  they  fled  to  the 
jungle  at  the  sight  of  a  white  face,  and  so  suspicious 
that  no  hearing  could  be  gained  unless  the  way  had 
been  prepared  by  their  own  people.  The  old  man,  Ko 
Tha  Byu,  was  terribly  limited.  His  slow  mind  could 
never  apprehend  the  full  message  of  the  gospel.  Ac- 
cording to  Doctor  Mason: 

He  had  very  few  thoughts,  but  those  were  grand  ones : 
The  fall  of  man,  his  need  of  a  Saviour,  the  fulness  of 
Christ,  and  the  blessedness  of  heaven;  and  he  used  these 


40  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

thoughts  Hke  an  auger  in  drilHng  a  rock.    It  was  round 
and  round  and  round  until  the  object  was  accomplished. 

Up  and  down  throuj^h  the  mountains  went  this  hum- 
ble apostle,  preaching,  praying,  distributing  tracts.  Hun- 
ger could  not  daunt  liim.  He  waded  rivers,  he  threaded 
jungles,  he  slept  in  the  forests.  His  converts  were  fined 
and  imprisoned,  but  persecution  could  not  quench  the  fire 
he  was  lighting  in  the  jungle.  Little  groups  of  Karens 
met  stealthily  at  daybreak  to  read  the  one  tract  then 
translated  into  their  language,  or  stole  down  at  nightfall 
to  receive  secret  instruction  from  the  missionaries.  When 
Ko  Tha  Byu  died  in  1840,  after  twelve  years  of  disciple- 
ship,  he  had  led  multitudes  of  his  people  to  Christ.  The 
year  he  died,  the  Christian  Karens  in  Pegu  numbered 
twelve  hundred  and  seventy,  most  of  whom  he  led  to  the 
Saviour  through  his  exertions.  (Harvey.) 

In  1878  Karen  Christians  built  in  honor  of  his  mem- 
ory Ko  Tha  Byu  Hall  at  Bassein,  at  a  cost  of  fifteen 
thousand   dollars. 

George  Dana  Boardman:  Founder  of  the  Karen 
Mission.  George  Dana  Boardman  is  rightly  given  the 
honor  of  being  the  founder  of  the  Karen  mission.  He 
had  the  longing  of  the  pioneer  to  learn  what  lies  be- 
hind the  mountains,  and  was  the  first  of  missionaries 
to  leave  the  river  paths  and  strike  out  for  the  interior 
of  the  country.  He  spoke  Burmese  with  unusual  flu- 
ency, and  without  waiting  to  master  the  Karen,  deter- 
mined to  go  on  tour  through  the  jungle  with  Ko  Tha 
Byu  as  interpreter.  For  three  years  he  worked  with 
the  zeal  of  an  apostle  before  death  closed  his  brief 
service.  When  too  weak  to  walk  he  was  carried  on  a 
stretcher  to  the  hills,  there  to  see  the  newly  arrived 
missionary,  Francis  Mason,  who  was  later  to  become 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  41 

the  translator  of  the  New  Testament  into  Karen,  bap- 
tize thirty-four  of  his  converts  in  a  beautiful  mountain 
stream.  That  same  night  he  celebrated  with  them  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  died  peacefully  next  day  as  they 
were  carrying  him  to  his  home. 

Sarah  Boardman.  His  beautiful  young  wife,  Sarah 
Boardman,  carried  on  his  work  for  three  years.  She 
founded  schools  that  came  to  be  regarded  as  models 
by  the  government,  she  made  long  missionary  tours 
through  the  jungle  with  her  little  son  by  her  side. 
"  She  climbed  the  mountain,  traversed  the  marsh, 
forded  the  stream,  and  threaded  the  forest.  To  Mrs. 
Mason  at  Tavoy  she  wrote : 

You  would  better  send  the  chair;  it  is  convenient  to  be 
carried  over  the  streams  when  they  are  deep.  You  will 
laugh  when  I  tell  you  that  I  have  forded  all  the  smaller 
ones. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  year  of  her  widow- 
hood, she  became  the  wife  of  Mr.  Judson,  and  removed 
to  Mandalay.  She  was  radiantly  beautiful  in  her 
home  life  as  wife  and  mother,  but  found  time  to  super- 
intend school  work,  direct  the  translation  of  the  New 
Testament  into  the  pagan  language  and  interest  her- 
self in  all  that  concerned  the  mission.  She  died  at 
sea  on  her  way  to  the  homeland  in  1845. 

Work  of  Jonathan  Wade.  Closely  associated  with 
the  name  of  George  Dana  Boardman  in  the  founding 
of  the  Karen  mission,  must  be  placed  those  of  Jona- 
than Wade  and  Elisha  Abbott.  Doctor  Wade,  by 
means  of  his  great  gifts  as  a  linguist,   reduced  the 


42  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Sgaw  and  Pwo  Karen  dialects  to  writing,  and  com- 
piled a  great  dictionary  and  thesaurus  of  the  Karen 
language  in  five  volumes.  In  1833,  while  on  furlough, 
he  estahlished  in  Hamilton,  New  York,  classes  for  in- 
tending missionaries,  and  so  successfully  taught  the 
Karen  language  that  his  pupils  were  able  to  begin 
work  almost  at  once  when  they  reached  Burma.  When 
he  returned  in  1834  he  took  with  him  eleven  recruits 
for  the  mission.  Ilis  stirring  addresses,  given  in 
hundreds  of  churches,  had  created  a  new  tide  of  mis- 
sionary enthusiasm,  a  service  sadly  needed  at  the  time. 
The  old  hero  lived  until  1874  to  see  many  of  the  tri- 
umphs of  the  mission. 

Elisha  Abbott;  His  Training  of  Karen  Pastors.  It 
was  in  1837  that  Elisha  Abbott  began  his  course  in 
Bible  instruction  to  the  pioneer  Karen  pastors.  The 
Burmese  had  forbidden  them  to  possess  a  book  or  to 
learn  to  read.  Their  instruction  had  to  be  in  secret, 
at  night-time,  in  secluded  spots.  The  story  is  told  of 
a  chief  who  came  to  Doctor  Abbott  to  beg  books.  He 
refused  him,  saying:  "But  yesterday  the  heavy  fetters 
fell  from  your  ankles.  Should  you  be  found  with 
books  in  your  possession  you  would  lose  your  head." 
"  So  much  sooner  to  heaven,"  was  the  nonchalant 
reply.  In  Mr.  Abbott's  time  fierce  persecutions  by 
the  Burmans  had  made  the  Karens  unusually  timid 
and  nomadic  in  their  habits.  It  was  unsafe  to  hold 
meetings  or  to  administer  baptism  save  at  night.  Mr. 
Abbott  has  left  an  account  of  one  of  these  meetings, 
when,  in  a  village,  three  days  back  in  the  jungle  from 
Bassein,  he  spoke  from  ten  in  the  morning  until  mid- 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  43 

night,  hardly  taking  time  to  eat.  Whole  companies  of 
Karens  surrounded  him,  who  had  traveled  all  day 
through  the  forest  paths  without  eating,  for  fear  lest 
they  should  be  too  late  to  hear  the  white  teacher. 

The  people  hastened  out,  spread  a  mat  on  the  ground 
in  the  open  field,  upon  which  I  sat,  and  they  themselves 
gathered  around  and  sat  on  the  ground.  A  few  old  men 
sat  near  who  would  question  me.  All  around  was  the 
darkness  and  stillness  of  night.  Not  a  cloud  obscured 
the  heavens,  which  was  spread  out  over  our  heads  as  a 
beautifully  bespangled  curtain.  In  one  hand  I  held  a 
dimly  burning  taper,  in  the  other  the  Word  of  God.  Mid- 
night had  long  passed  away  ere  we  dispersed,  and  then 
they  withdrew  reluctantly. 

His  Advocacy  of  Self-Support.  Mr.  Abbott  was 
one  of  the  earliest  advocates  of  the  principles  of  self- 
government  and  self-support.  In  this,  he  was  ahead 
of  his  time.  The  custom  had  been  universal  to  sup- 
port native  pastors  on  missionary  funds.  He  agitated, 
spoke,  wrote  letters :  self-support  was  the  burden  of 
his  addresses.  It  was  due  to  his  championship  and 
that  of  the  missionaries  who  followed  him  that  the 
Karen  mission  in  Bassein  was  the  earliest  mission 
station  in  the  world  to  demonstrate  on  any  large  scale 
how  superior  to  the  older  system  of  missionary  sub- 
ventions is  the  policy  of  throwing  the  burden  of  sup- 
porting their  own  pastors  on  the  native  Christians. 
Rev.  H.  C.  Carpenter,  the  historian  at  the  Bassein 
mission,  has  written  a  full  account  of  this  matter  in 
his  book  entitled  "  Self-Support  in  Bassein,"  published 
in  Boston  in  1863.    It  is  a  matter  of  pride  to  Baptists 


44  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

to  realize  that  this  principle,  not  generally  recognized 
before  the  opening  of  the  twentieth  century,  found 
such  early  championship  and  testing  in  the  Karen 
mission.  It  has  met  such  success  in  the  Karen  field 
that  out  of  seven  hundred  and  thirty  churches,  seven 
hundred  are  self-supporting,  and  that  virtually  all  of' 
the  six  hundred  village  schools  are  self-supporting. 
"  We  use  no  mission  funds  for  village  schools,"  says 
a  typical  report.  Parents  pay  tuition  fees  for  their 
children  in  higher  schools,  and  raise  money  for  build- 
ings in  addition.  The  boarding-school  for  girls  at 
Nyaunglebin  is  supported  by  sixteen  small  churches, 
who  raised  money  for  the  girls'  dormitory  in  addition 
to  paying  all  tuition.  This  very  station  was,  not  so 
long  ago,  a  home  mission  station  opened  by  Karen 
Christians  of  Bassein.  Thanbya,  the  veteran  Karen 
pastor  in  Rangoon,  is  one  of  the  few  pastors  wlio 
receive  compensation  from  America.  Practically  all 
the  other  Karen  workers  are  supported  by  the  people. 
The  Coming  of  the  Vintons.  The  name  which  has 
been  most  closely  entwined  with  the  story  of  the 
Karen  missions  in  the  affections  of  American  Baptists 
has  been  that  of  Justus  Vinton,  who,  with  his  young 
wife,  landed  in  ]\Ioulmein  in  December,  1834.  They 
had  studied  Karen  to  such  good  purpose  for  a  year 
at  Hamilton  and  on  the  long  voyage  across  the  seas, 
that  they  were  enabled  to  begin  work  within  a  week 
after  they  had  landed.  There  were  so  many  invita- 
tions from  Karen  villages  to  come  and  tell  them  of 
the  gospel  that,  with  superb  courage,  they  separated, 
each  took  a  band  of  native  Christians,  and  went  thus 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  45 

evangelizing  from  village  to  village.  This  plan  they 
followed  until  1848,  for  the  most  part  in  the  district 
around  Moulmein.  Mr.  Vinton's  sweetness  of  spirit, 
his  beautiful  voice,  his  power  in  prayer,  and  life  of 
self-denying.  Christlike  love  so  endeared  him  to  the 
people  that  his  name  was  known  throughout  Burma. 

Their  Service  While  on  Furlough.  There  are  two 
services  rendered  by  him  and  his  wife  which  are 
deserving  of  special  mention.  The  first  occurred  when 
they  were  in  America,  enjoying  a  much-needed  fur- 
lough for  rest  and  recuperation.  The  work  which 
they  accomplished  during  this  furlough  was  perhaps 
as  important  for  the  interest  of  the  kingdom  in  Burma 
as  anything  which  they  accomplished  on  the  field. 
For  1848  was  ebb-tide.  The  early  enthusiasm  of  the 
missionary  enterprise  had  departed,  and  a  generation 
had  arisen  that  knew  not  Judson.  A  nation  has  its  moods, 
and  the  American  mood  was  anti-mission.  Religious  feel- 
ing seemed  cold  and  dead.    Judson  had  written  in  1847: 

It  is  my  growing  conviction  that  the  Baptist  churches 
in  America  are  behind  the  age  in  missionary  spirit.  They 
now  and  then  make  a  spasmodic  efifort  to  throw  off  a 
nightmare  of  debt  of  some  years'  accumulation,  and  then 
sink  back  into  unconscious  repose.  Then  come  paralyzing 
orders  to  retrench.  New  enterprises  are  checked  in  their 
very  conception,  and  applicants  for  missionary  employ 
are  advised  to  wait.  ,  .  I  thought  they  loved  me,  I  thought 
my  brethren  in  America  were  praying  for  us,  and  they 
have  never  once  thought  of  us. 

The  income  of  the  Board  had  been  so  reduced  that 
in   1846  they  were   seriously   discussing  abandoning 


46  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

some  of  the  missions.  In  such  an  hour  Mr.  Vinton 
returned  home,  and,  going  from  church  to  church, 
made  his  appeal  for  the  mission  in  Burma.  Those 
who  heard  him  could  never  forget  his  inspired  prayers, 
his  victorious  faith,  his  story  of  the  triumphs  of  re- 
deeming love.  He  warmed  the  frozen  heart  of  the 
church  with  his  wonderful  singing  of  the  "  Mission- 
ary's Call."  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  claim  for  him  a 
large  part  in  saving  the  day  for  missions.  Meanwhile 
Mrs.  Vinton  was  doing  equally  wonderful  work  for 
the  women  from  her  sick-bed. 

The  Second  War  Between  England  and  Burma. 
The  second  notable  service  of  the  Vintons  occurred 
after  their  return  to  Moulmein.  Here  they  found  the 
relations  between  the  English  and  the  Burmans  be- 
coming strained,  and  the  poor  Karens  suffering  all 
kinds  of  persecution.  One  day  one  of  the  converts  in 
Moulmein  said  to  Mrs.  Vinton,  "  Mama,  is  it  wrong 
to  pray  for  war  ?  "  "  Why?  "  said  Mrs.  Vinton.  "Be- 
cause we  are  tired  of  being  hunted  like  wild  beasts, 
of  being  obliged  to  worship  God  by  night  in  the  forest, 
and  never  daring  to  speak  of  Jesus  above  a  whisper. 
O  Mama,  may  we  not  pray  that  the  English  may 
come  and  take  our  country,  so  that  we  may  worship 
God  in  freedom  and  without  fear?  "  "  Yes,  you  may," 
she  answered.  And  from  that  day  the  devout  prayers 
of  the  Karen  Christians  were  offered  daily  for  the 
coming  of  the  English. 

Their  Service  During  the  War.  When  the  war 
broke  out,  in  1852,  Eugenio  Kincaid,  the  great  evan- 
gelist to  the  Burmans,  summoned  Doctor  Vinton  to 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  47 

come  to  Rang-oon  to  help  protect  the  Christian  Karens. 
Every  village  within  fifty  miles  of  Rangoon  had  been 
burned.  Five  thousand  refugees  were  living  in  carts 
and  under  trees.  Their  standing  crops  had  been  fired, 
nameless  cruelties  had  been  inflicted  on  their  women 
and  children,  and  two  of  the  pastors  had  already  been 
crucified  by  the  Burmese.  Many  of  the  Karens  had 
been  forced  into  the  Burmese  army  to  build  the  for- 
tifications and  dig  the  trenches,  but  they  could  not  be 
forced  to  kill  their  deliverers.  No  Karen  bullet  ever 
hit  an  Englishman.  They  either  fired  into  the  air, 
deserted  in  a  body  to  the  enemy,  or  fell  pierced  by 
the  bullets  of  the  men  for  whose  coming  they  had 
prayed.  The  success  of  the  British  arms  was  ma- 
terially aided  by  both  the  active  and  passive  co- 
operation  of   these   despised    Karens. 

Caring  for  the  Refugees.  The  Vintons  and  Kin- 
caids  were  quartered  in  a  deserted  Buddhist  monas- 
tery, and  began  their  work  of  mercy.  They  built  a 
smallpox  hospital  and  placed  it  near  their  houses,  so 
that  they  could  better  care  for  their  patients.  Feeding 
the  hungry,  clothing  the  naked,  caring  for  the  home- 
less, and  ministering  to  the  dying,  they  toiled  both 
day  and  night.  Companies  of  Karens  came  into  Ran- 
goon from  the  jungles  daily  to  take  refuge  under  the 
protection  of  the  English.  A  large  school  numbering 
over  two  hundred  was  built  up,  in  which  old  people 
and  children  sat  side  by  side  learning  to  read  the 
word  of  God.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  the  school  was 
removed  to  Kemendine,  and  the  foundation  was  laid  for 
the  present  wonderful  educational  work  in  that  place. 


48  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Teacher  Vinton  and  the  Famine.  After  peace  was 
made,  the  famine  followed  the  pestilence.  Thousands 
had  lost  all  they  possessed  through  robbery  and  war. 
Rice  was  selling  at  starvation  prices.  The  Karens 
looked  to  Teacher  Vinton  to  help  them.  People  lay 
dying  of  hunger  in  the  streets.  He  began  to  give  out 
his  little  store  of  rice.  When  he  had  exhausted  all 
available  supplies  he  went  to  the  rice  traders  and 
said : 

"Will  you  trust  me  for  a  sliipload  of  rice?  I  cannot 
pay  you  now,  and  I  do  not  know  when  I  can  pay  you, 
for  I  have  received  no  remittance  from  America  in  a 
year.  I  cannot  see  these  people  die.  If  you  will  let 
me  have  the  rice  I  will  pay  you  as  soon  as  I  can." 

They  answered,  "  Mr.  Vinton,  take  all  the  rice  you 
want.  Your  word  is  all  the  security  we  ask.  You 
can  have  a  dozen  cargoes  if  you  wish." 

He  filled  his  granaries  and  outbuildings  with  rice, 
and  gave  it  out  to  Christian  and  heathen  alike  without 
discrimination.  So  great  was  the  need  and  so  few  the 
helpers  that  it  was  impossible  to  keep  accurate  ac- 
count. 

His  friends  in  alarm  said :  "  You  are  ruining  your- 
self. You  do  not  know  the  names  of  half  of  these 
people  to  whom  you  are  giving  the  rice.  How  do 
you  expect  to  get  your  pay?  " 

His  answer  was,  "  God  will  see  to  that."  And  he 
did.  Every  cent  of  the  money  expended  was  recov- 
ered. When  the  famine  was  over  that  one  act  had 
opened  the  hearts  of  the  people  to  the  message  of 
the  gospel  as  nothing  else  could  do.     "  This  is  the 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  49 

man  who  saved  our  lives,"  they  said.  "  His  religion 
is  the  one  we  want."  Thousands  were  baptized. 
Churches  were  organized.  Chapels  and  schoolhouses 
were  built,  and  the  hearts  of  both  Burmans  and  Karens 
were  turned  toward  God. 

An  Unrealized  Opportunity.  The  glowing  hopes 
of  a  speedy  triumph  of  the  gospel  in  Burma  raised  by 
the  wide-spread  awakening  of  this  time  were  destined 
not  to  be  realized.  The  plastic  moment  passed,  the 
exalted  mood  of  the  people  changed,  and  their  will- 
ingness to  listen  was  replaced  by  indifference.  One 
of  the  critical  opportunities  in  the  history  of  missions 
was  thus  unrealized  because  of  the  lethargy  of  the 
church  on  the  home  field.  Then,  as  now,  the  crux  of 
the  situation  was  in  the  home  base.  Baptists  kept 
their  "  thin  red  line  of  heroes  "  on  the  field,  but  neg- 
lected to  support  them  adequately.  Stations  were  un- 
dermanned, promising  work  was  opened,  then  aban- 
doned, because  illness  or  death  drove  the  workers 
home,  and  there  was  no  one  to  take  their  places. 
"  There  are  abundant  signs  of  energetic  and  success- 
ful work  in  early  days  and  of  comparative  neglect 
since  then,"  wrote  Mr.  Cross,  of  Sandoway ;  "  there 
have  been  no  male  missionaries  who  stayed  long 
enough  to  know  the  language,  the  work,  or  the  people." 
If  in  that  crisis  hour  of  the  early  fifties,  a  serious,  com- 
pact, concerted  advance,  adequately  manned  and  sup- 
ported, had  been  made,  Burma  might  have  been  won 
for  Christ. 

Achievements  on  the  Field.  In  spite  of  inadequate 
forces,  illness,  retrenchment,  absence  of  comprehen- 

D 


50  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

sive  policy,  the.  work  accomplished  was  a  miracle  of 
achievement.  "  Where  in  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury there  was  a  dispirited  and  uncivilized  people, 
there  is  to-day  a  Karen  Christian  community  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand,  supporting  their  own 
churches  and  schools.  They  have,  moreover,  a  foreign 
missionary  society  which  they  support  liberally.  All 
the  churches  contribute  to  the  theological  seminary, 
for  the  endowment  of  which  they  are  raising  a  gen- 
erous fund.  The  Burmese  also  contribute  to  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Burmese  theological  seminary,  schools, 
and  churches. 

Baptist  Educational  System.  The  magnificent 
schools  of  the  Baptist  mission  in  Burma  are  worthy 
of  the  greatest  pride  and  loyalty.  What  other  mission 
can  show  such  schools?  There  are  thirty-five  high 
schools  and  boarding-schools;  among  them  schools  of 
the  highest  rank,  such  as  Kemendine  and  Morton 
Lane,  for  girls;  Mandalay  High  School  and  Ko  Tha 
Byu  High  School,  for  boys.  In  these  schools  are 
about  five  thousand  boys  and  fifteen  hundred  girls. 
The  Rangoon  Baptist  College,  the  Christian  college 
in  Burma,  enrolls  over  a  thousand  students — twelve 
hundred  in  all  departments,  forty-eight  in  college 
proper — and  is  a  tremendous  power  for  Christ.  In 
1912  the  Baptist  Christians  of  Burma  supported  over 
six  hundred  village  schools  without  any  help  from 
America  and  paid,  besides,  in  board  and  tuition  fees 
to  the  higher  schools,  $93,000.  It  is  in  these  schools 
that  there  is  being  generated  the  power  which  shall 
make  Burma  Cliristian.     If  the  young  jicople  who  are 


M 

b 

0 

FB— 

CUSHlNc;   MEMORIAL   BUILDINGS,   RANGOON    BAPTIST   COLLEGE 


THE   VINTON    MEMORIAL   AT   RANGOON 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  51 

to  be  the  leaders  go  out  from  the  schools  consecrated, 
aggressive  Christians,  nothing  can  prevent  the  tri- 
umph of  Christianity  within  a  century.  Baptists  hold 
the  key  to  the  situation. 

Karen  Devotion  to  Education.  As  an  illustration 
of  the  remarkable  interest  taken  in  education  by  the 
Karens,  the  Shwegyin  schools  may  be  mentioned. 
The  churches  in  this  district,  in  addition  to  doing 
foreign  mission  work  in  Siam,  have  built  a  house  for 
the  missionary  ladies  costing  8,000  rupees,*  a  school 
building  costing  10,000  rupees,  and  a  girls'  dormitory 
costing  2,000  rupees.  They  raised  every  bit  of  this 
without  any  outside  assistance  whatever.  In  1898 
they  bought  about  thirty  acres  of  land  for  the  school 
compound  at  Nyaunglebin,  and  have  invested  in  build- 
ings already  25,000  rupees.  The  school  at  Nyaukkyi 
(pronounced  Nowk-jee)  has  never  had  the  oversight 
of  a  missionary,  but  has  been  entirely  in  charge  of  a 
Karen  evangelist,  who  has  put  up  buildings,  engaged 
teachers,  managed  the  boarding  department,  and  made 
the  school  such  a  power  that  children  have  come  four 
or  five  days'  journey  to  attend  his  school.  Fifteen 
evangelists  have  already  come  from  this  one  school. 

The  Mission  Press.  One  of  the  strongest  agencies 
in  the  dissemination  of  the  gospel  in  Burma  has  been 
the  printing-press,  organized  by  Rev.  George  Hough 
in  1816,  and  conducted  by  him  until  1829,  when 
Rev.  Cephas  Bennett  began  his  many  years  of  devoted 
service.     His  successor,  Mr.  Frank  D,  Phinney,  has 

*  The  rupee  is  equivalent  to  about  thirty-three  cents. 


52  FOLLOWING  THE  SUx\RISE 

been  in  charge  since  1882,  and  has  brought  the  press 
to  a  splendid  state  of  efficiency.  This  press  has  printed 
not  only  Bibles,  tracts,  commentaries,  and  periodical 
literature,  but  translations  from  the  best  works  in 
English  literature,  and  a  large  number  of  the  text- 
books used  in  the  schools  throughout  Burma.  In  a 
recent  year,  for  example,  ninety  thousand  tracts  and 
pamphlets  were  printed  for  the  Christian  Literature 
Society  of  India,  twenty-five  thousand  books  for 
the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  and  many 
thousand  school-books  for  Macmillan  to  be  used  in 
government  schools,  besides  Sunday-school  papers, 
lesson  leaves,  and  religious  periodicals  printed  for  the 
mission  itself.  This  press  alone  is  one  of  the  greatest 
agencies  in  the  uplift  of  all  the  people  of  Burma.  It 
has  been  said  to  be  Christianizing  a  nation  by  ma- 
chinery. 

Work  Among  Primitive  People.  Baptist  missions 
in  Burma  have  had  a  distinct  call  to  the  many  primi- 
tive races  found  holding  the  mountain  territory  to 
the  north  and  scattered  over  the  plains.  There  are 
the  Chins,  180,000  strong;  the  Kachins,  numbering 
about  100,000,  with  much  larger  numbers  across  the 
border  in  China;  the  Kaws  and  Muhsos,  and  the 
more  civilized  Shans  and  Talains  of  the  plains.  Each 
story  is  of  thrilling  interest.  The  first  convert  among 
the  fierce  Chins,  drunken  and  filthy,  was  a  woman 
who  was  won  to  Christ  by  a  Burmese  Christian 
woman.  It  was  the  undiscourageable  faith  of  Mrs. 
B.  C.  Thomas  that  established  the  first  Chin  school  in 
Henzada.     Out  of  this  most  hopeless-looking  material 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  53 

a  thousand  Christian  communicants  have  been  gath- 
ered, and  recently  thirty  people  from  one  village  came 
at  one  time,  were  baptized  in  the  beautiful  pool  with 
its  background  of  splendid  mountains,  and  sat  down 
for  the  first  time  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  At  Tiddim, 
Mr.  Cope  reports  such  an  eagerness  for  education  that 
boys  who  have  worked  all  day  in  the  fields  come  to 
school  at  night,  study  until  they  fall  asleep,  stay  all 
night  in  the  schoolhouse  and  get  in  two  more  hours 
before  going  to  work  in  the  morning.  The  Chin 
teacher  preaches  during  the  day  and  teaches  at  night. 
He  works  from  5  A.  M.  to  9  P.  M.  There  are  four 
such  schools  in  the  Tiddim  field. 

The  Kachins  had,  as  their  pioneer  and  advocate. 
Dr.  W.  H.  Roberts,  of  Bhamo.  Like  the  Chins,  they 
are  wild  mountain  people,  always  at  war  among  them- 
selves, full  of  fear  and  superstition  in  regard  to  evil 
spirits.  They  too  have  proved  to  be  fine  raw  material 
out  of  which  to  build  men  and  Christians.  Forty- 
four  Kachin  pupils  from  the  school  at  Myitkyina  tried 
a  recent  government  examination,  forty-two  of  them 
passed.  The  British  Commissioner,  Sir  Harvey  Adam- 
son,  visited  the  school  and  was  delighted  with  the 
industrial  work.  With  his  own  hand  he  turned  several 
furrows  with  the  plow,  much  to  the  astonishment  of  the 
pupils,  who  marveled  that  such  a  grand  person  did  not 
despise  manual  labor. 

Kachin  Sapolio.  "  Before  I  came  to  Bhamo,"  writes 
Miss  Ragon,  "  I  had  always  heard  the  Kachins  re- 
ferred to  as  the  dirtiest  people  on  the  face  of  the 
earth,  and  I  have  never  had  cause  to  doubt  the  state- 


54  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

ment  till  the  other  day.  Now  I  know  that  the  desire 
to  be  clean  did  exist  in  one  girl's  heart.  She  came  to 
me  for  medicine ;  her  face,  neck,  and  hands  were  all 
swollen  and  the  skin  burned  off.  Upon  inquiry,  I 
found  that  she  had  mixed  wood-ashes  and  soap  and 
had  washed  with  it,  rubbing  it  in  well.  When  I  asked 
her  what  possessed  her  to  do  such  a  thing,  she  very 
meekly  said  she  had  noticed  that  when  I  wanted  things 
nice  and  clean  I  had  my  cook  use  ashes  with  the  soap. 
.  .  The  work  is  evangelistic  in  the  truest  sense.  They 
come  from  such  depths  that  Christianity  must  be 
lived  into  them  before  they  are  able  to  grasp  it. 
Ask  them  if  they  understand  the  message,  and  they 
will  answer,  *  We  understand  what  you  say,  but  we 
don't  know  what  you  mean.'  The  thoughts  and  ideals 
of  Christianity  are  so  foreign  to  their  point  of  view 
that  a  statement  of  them  simply  means  nothing  to 
the  mind  of  a  jungle  person.  He  must  see  them  active 
in  a  man's  life  before  he  can  grasp  them,  or  before 
they  appeal  to  him.  I  have  always  believed  in  school 
work,  and  for  Kachins  find  it  absolutely  essential." 

The  Shan  States.  The  Shans  belong  to  one  of  the 
great  races  of  the  Far  Fast,  numbering  several  mil- 
lions scattered  through  Siam,  Burma,  China,  and  As- 
sam. In  Burma  is  the  advance  guard,  numbering 
some  three-quarters  of  a  million,  that  through  several 
centuries  struggled  with  the  Burmans  for  the  mastery 
of  the  peninsula.  They  are,  like  the  Burmans,  Budd- 
hist, and  have  been  very  slow  to  respond  to  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel.  Since  the  opening  of  worl^ 
in  the  Shan  States  in  1860,  at  Toungoo,  by  Dr.  Moses 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  55 

H.  Bixby,  work  has  been  done  among  the  Shans.  But 
in  the  Shan  country,  as  among  the  Burmans,  the 
richest  results  have  been  achieved  among  the  un- 
civiHzed  mountain  tribes,  the  Muhsos,  Kaws,  Lahu,  and 
others. 

Ingathering  at  Kengtung.  It  was  in  1901  that  Mr. 
Young,  who  had  gone  to  work  among  the  Shans,  came 
in  contact  with  the  immigrant  Muhsos.  Here  were 
people  with  a  cotton  cord  tied  around  their  wrists  in 
sign  of  their  belief  in  one  God,  their  abhorrence  of 
intoxicants,  and  their  search  for  teachers  to  tell  them 
the  will  of  God.  In  great  mass  movements  during  the 
next  few  years,  ten  thousand  of  these  brave,  primitive 
people  cut  the  cords  from  their  wrists  and  received 
Christian  baptism.  The  revival  has  spread  quietly 
and  irresistibly  into  other  tribes  and  across  the  moun- 
tains into  China.  The  first  chapter  of  mass  evangelism 
is  barely  closing;  the  second  of  the  education  and 
training  of  these  primitive  people  is  just  opening. 
The  language  proved  very  inadequate  to  express  the 
ideas  of  the  Bible.  For  two  years  it  was  impossible 
to  translate  the  Lord's  Prayer,  for  there  was  no  word 
for  "  kingdom,"  "  hallow,"  "  temptation,"  or  "  evil." 
The  missionaries  had  to  hammer  out  the  language, 
as  a  goldsmith  does  gold,  to  make  it  cover  new  words. 
These  people  had  a  set  of  traditions  which  were  as 
wonderful  a  preparation  for  the  gospel  as  were  those 
of  the  Karens,  and  were  similar  in  character. 

The  Christian  Karens  made  magnificent  response 
to  this  new  opening  for  the  gospel  at  Kengtung. 
Ba  Te,  a  prosperous  lawyer  in  Rangoon,  gave  up  his 


56  FOLLOVVL\G  THE  SUNRISE 

practice  and  was  sent  as  a  missionary  to  these  wild 
people.  He  went  on  a  salary  of  seventeen  dollars  a  month, 
and,  after  years  of  devoted  service  at  Kengtung,  is 
now  teaching  in  the  theological  seminary  at  Insein. 

Already  the  Christians  in  the  mountain  tribes  are 
beginning  to  do  personal  work  for  Christ.  Men  in 
many  villages  have  given  from  ten  days  to  a  month 
of  their  time  in  personal  evangelism. 

Present-Day  Problems.  Interesting  and  valuable 
as  has  been  the  work  among  these  primitive  peoples, 
it  is  clear  that  the  time  demands  a  new  emphasis  on 
other  work.  Burma  is  to-day  the  richest  province  of 
British  India.  It  is  attracting  immigration  through- 
out the  Orient.  There  are  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
Chinese,  and  the  time  is  in  sight  when  there  may  be 
a  million.  This  great  and  growing  and  influential 
Chinese  population  demands  attention.  From  penin- 
sular India  come  multitudes  of  Telugu  and  Tamil  and 
Bengali  people,  who  already  number  a  million  and  a 
quarter.  Jostling  the  self-satisfied  Burman  Buddhists 
are  Mohammedan  traders,  Hindu  money-lenders, 
Telugu  coolies.  In  Burma's  little  "  melting-pot "  it 
looks  sometimes  as  if  the  Burman  himself  might  be 
overwhelmed. 

Work  Among  Immigrants  from  Peninsular  India. 
The  work  among  the  Tamil,  Telugu,  and  other  immi- 
grants is  in  charge  of  Rev.  W.  F.  Armstrong,  his  wife, 
his  son,  and  his  daughter  Kate,  a  remarkable  family. 
The  Woman's  Society  supports  eight  day-schools, 
with  six  hundred  and  thirty-five  pupils;  a  school  at 
Ahlone,  fifty-five  pupils;  Union  Hall,  Rangoon,  two 


BURMESE  CHRISTIAN   WOMEN 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  57 

hundred  and  sixty  pupils;  Mizpah  Hall,  Moulmein, 
one  hundred  and  ninety-two  pupils.  One  entire 
church  is  composed  almost  wholly  of  converts  from 
Islam.  There  is  a  beautiful  Bible-woman,  Sarahama, 
who  speaks  Tamil  and  Telugu  fluently.  The  Chris- 
tian teachers  in  the  schools — they  themselves  the 
products  of  mission  work  in  India — number  forty- 
eight  men  and  ten  women.  They  teach  for  five  days 
and  do  evangelistic  preaching  the  other  two.  For  six 
years  Mizpah  Hall,  in  competition  with  all  India,  has 
won  a  medal  in  the  International  Sunday-school 
examinations.  One  of  the  orphan  boys  has  won  four 
silver  medals  in  four  years.  The  buildings  are  in- 
adequate and  unworthy  of  the  mission.  Mrs.  Arm- 
strong says  that  the  crowded  temporary  quarters  of 
the  kindergarten  "  are  a  disgrace."  "  Unless  some- 
thing is  done  soon  we  shall  lose  all  chance  to  keep 
what  has  been  gained  in  the  Indian  work  in  Burma." 
The  Unreached  Burmans.  But  the  greatest  present- 
day  problem  and  unreached  population  in  Burma 
to-day  are  the  Burmese.  Baptist  work  began  among 
the  Burmans.  To  them  it  gave  the  Burmese  Bible, 
and  the  precious  lives  of  many  of  the  greatest  mis- 
sionaries, among  them  that  Pauline  woman,  Mrs. 
Maria  B.  Ingalls,  whose  story  of  the  Queen's  Bible 
is  so  well  known  to  every  Baptist.  But  the  great 
mass  of  the  Burmese  are  to-day  unreached.  Are  they 
unreachable?  The  three  thousand  Burmese  church- 
members,  the  splendid  churches  like  that  at  Moul- 
mein, are  sufficient  answer.  Some  of  the  most 
beautiful   Christians  in   Burma   have  been   Burmans. 


S8  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Yet  the  field  is  difficult.  There  are  in  the  Bap- 
tist mission  staff  forty-seven  missionaries  working 
among  Burmans,  and  only  thirty-nine  among  the 
Karens.  The  problem  of  the  immediate  future  is  a 
determined,  adequate,  systematic  evangelization  of  the 
Burmans.  The  time  is  ripe  for  it.  Burman  villages 
are  beginning  to  ask  for  teachers.  Ninety  per  cent 
of  the  Burmans  live  in  rural  communities.  It  is  there 
that  they  are  most  approachable.  The  next  few  years 
should  see  a  faithful,  courageous  facing  of  the  whole 
Burman  problem.  As  long  as  the  Burman  remains 
unwon,  Christ  is  defeated  in  Burma.  To  say  that 
Buddhists  cannot  be  won  is  to  deny  the  power  of  the 
gospel.  It  may  need  a  generation  of  secret  prayer 
to  prepare  the  church  for  this  advance,  but  it  must 
come.  The  Baptists  of  America  surely  have  some- 
thing to  communicate  to  the  Buddhists  of  Burma. 

Work  Among  Eurasians.  Scattered  throughout 
Burma  are  large  numbers  of  Eurasians,  those  who 
descended  from  English  fathers  and  native  mothers. 
As  these  are  all  English-speaking,  missionary  work 
may  be  done  among  them  in  the  English  language. 
While  not  the  most  numerous,  the  Eurasians  are 
among  the  most  influential  portions  of  the  population, 
as  is  clearly  shown  by  the  numbers  who  succeed  in 
the  civil  service  in  capturing  important  positions  in 
the  government.  Their  ability  as  teachers  and  skilled 
workers  is  recognized  everywhere.  Because  of  their 
mixed  parentage  they  have  command  of  two  lan- 
guages, and  usually  understand  one  or  two  others. 
They  also  understand  the  customs  and  ideals  of  the 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  59 

people  of  Burma  in  a  way  that  it  is  very  difficult  for 
a  foreigner  to  achieve. 

Four  Centers.  The  four  centers  of  Baptist  work 
among  Eurasians  are  Moulmein,  Rangoon,  Mandalay, 
and  Maymyo.  The  schools  located  at  Moulmein  and 
Mandalay  have  more  calls  for  teachers  than  they  can 
supply.  The  Catholics  are  keenly  alert  to  the  impor- 
tance of  securing  the  Eurasians.  The  richest  man  in 
Burma  to-day  is  a  Catholic  Eurasian  who  was  a  little 
boy  in  a  Baptist  school  years  ago  when  it  was  decided 
to  abandon  work  among  Eurasians.  His  loyalty  and 
gifts  very  properly  go  to  the  church  which  took  him 
in  and  educated  him.  The  future  of  Baptist  work  will 
be  strongly  influenced  by  the  manner  in  which  re- 
sponsibility to  these  Eurasian  people  is  discharged. 
If  soundly  converted,  they  may  do  a  great  work  for 
other  Burmese  natives.  In  fact,  the  Eurasian  work, 
begun  in  the  days  of  Judson  in  Moulmein,  was  the 
parent  of  the  English-speaking  church  in  Bangalore. 
The  Mandalay  Eurasian  church  has  its  daughter 
church  in  Maymyo.  A  Burmese  church  in  Maymyo 
is  another  ofifshoot,  and  the  likelihood  is  that  Tamil 
and  Telugu  work,  already  maintained  at  Maymyo  by 
these  Eurasians,  will  result  in  churches  among  these 
immigrant  peoples.  Mr.  Davenport  at  Mandalay  has 
been  called  the  "  Apostle  to  the  Eurasians,"  in  that 
he  has  clearly  seen  the  strategic  importance  of  these 
half-brothers  and  sisters  of  the  English  in  the  conquest 
of  Burma  for  Christ. 


6o  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 


Facts  About  Burma 

Population    12,141,676 

Buddhists  number  (1911)    10,384,579 

Protestant  Christians  number  (1911) I49i799 

Roman  CathoHcs  number  (1911) 60,282 

Baptists  number  (1911)  64,035 

From  1901  to  1911  Buddhists  increased 13.2% 

From  1901  to  191 1  Christians  increased 434% 

Protestant  adherents  number  not  less  than  300,000. 

Protestant  communicants  number  one  to  eighty-one  non- 
Christians. 

Christians  number  one  to  fifty-seven  non-Christians. 

Great   majority   of    Buddhists    strongly  animistic. 

Education  of  girls  chiefly  in  hands  of  Christians. 

Mendicant  Buddhist  monks,  a  great  drain  on  country,  estimated 
to  number   100,000, 


Baptist  Educational  Institutions  in  Burma 

Karen  Theological  Seminary,  Inscin,  Burma.     D.  A.  W.  Smith, 
D.  D.,  president;  W.  F.  Thomas,  D.  D.,  and  native  faculty. 

Established  in  1845,  it  has  an  annual  enrolment  of  from  125 
to  150.  The  Karen  churches  contribute  liberally  toward  its  cur- 
rent expenses,  and  have  also  provided  a  substantial  endowment. 
A  number  of  the  graduates  go  each  year  as  missionaries  to 
uncvangclizcd  tribes. 

Burman  Theological   Seminary,  Insein,  Burma.     John   McGuire, 
D.   D.,  president,  and  native  faculty. 

At  least  six  of  the  races  of  Burma  arc  usually  represented  in 
this  seminary.  It  is,  however,  much  smaller  than  its  sister 
institution  on  the  same  compound,  the  average  attendance  being 
twenty-five.    It  was  given  a  new  building  in  1909. 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  6i 

Burmese  Woman's  Bible  School,  Inscin,  Burma.  Miss  Harriet 
Phinney,  Miss  Ruth  W.   Ranney. 

This  school,  nearly  a  mile  distant  from  the  theological  sem- 
inary, is  entirely  supported  by  the  Burma  churches,  and  its 
graduates  are  doing  a  noble  work  in  all  parts  of  Burma. 

Karen  Woman's  Bible  School,  Rangoon,  Burma.  Mrs.  M.  M. 
Rose. 

The  Karens  support  this  school,  to  which  about  seventy-five 
young  women  come  annually. 

Rangoon  Baptist  College,  Rangoon,  Burma.  E.  W.  Kelly,  Ph.  D., 
principal ;  L.  E.  Hicks,  Ph.  D.,  principal  emeritus ;  David 
Gilmore,  M.  A.,  J.  F.  Smith,  Wallace  St.  John,  Ph.  D., 
H.  E.  Safford,  M.  A.,  F.  C.  Herod,  R.  L.  Howard,  M.  A., 
R.  P.  Currier,  and  large  native  faculty. 

The  only  Christian  college  in  Burma.  Many  converts  made 
each  year  from  the  student  body.  It  was  founded  in  1872,  and 
has  an  attendance  of  1,100  in  all  departments.  The  Cushing 
Memorial  Buildings  were  dedicated  in  1909,  and  a  new  high- 
school  building  is  to  be  erected. 

Mandalay  High  School,  Mandalay,  Burma.  H.  W.  Smith, 
principal. 

Only  Baptist  high  school  for  boys  in  upper  Burma.  Attend- 
ance, 300. 

Ko  Tha  Byu  High  School,  Bassein,  Burma.  Miss  Clara  B. 
Tingley,  principal. 

Karens  pay  all  current  expenses  of  this  boarding-school  of 
800  pupils,  besides  erecting  and  equipping  the  buildings. 

Morton  Lane  Girls'  School,  Moulmein,  Burma.  Miss  Agnes 
Whitehead,  Miss  Lisbeth  B.  Hughes,  Miss  Elsie  M.  Northrup. 

A  strong  normal  department  in  this  school. 


62  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Kemcndinc  Girls*  School,  Rangoon,  Burma.  IMrs.  Ida  B.  Elliott, 
Miss  J.  G.  Craft,  Miss  Margaret  M.  Sutherland,  Miss  Lillian 
Eastman. 

Nearly  400  girls  enrolled  from  kindergarten  to  normal  school 
department. 

English  Girls'  High  School,  Moulmein,  Burma.  Miss  A.  L. 
Prince,   Miss  Lena  Tillman. 

A  valuable  work  done  among  English-speaking  and  Eurasian 
population. 


American  Baptist  Mission  Press,  Rangoon,  Burma.  F.  D.  Phin- 
ney,  superintendent ;  J.  B.  Money,  S.  E.  Miner,  P.  R.  Hackett, 
assistants.  Established  in  1816,  the  service  rendered  by  this 
press  has  been  an  outstanding  feature  of  mission  work  in 
Burma.  In  1906  a  large,  well-lighted  building  on  the  principal 
street  in  Rangoon  was  completed.  Over  200  men  and  women 
are  employed  in  the  press,  which  supplies  Scriptures,  text-books, 
tracts,  and  other  literature  for  all  the  principal  races  of  Burma, 
and  is  the  chief  supply  house  for  educational  material. 


Bibliography 

Haystack  Prayer  Meeting,  One  Hundredth  Anniversary  of. 
Boston,  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions,  1907. 

Strong,  Story  of  the  American  Board,  pp.  3-20.  Boston,  Ameri- 
can Board,  1910. 

Vail,  Morning  Hour  of  American  Baptist  Missions.    Philadelphia, 
American  Baptist  Publication  Society,  1907. 
Describes   the   various   missionary   efforts   of   Baptists   before 

1814. 

Hill,  The  Immortal  Seven.  Philadelphia,  American  Baptist  Pub- 
lication Society,  1913. 


BEGINNINGS  IN  BURMA  63 

Judson,  Adoniram  Judson,  a  Biography.  Philadelphia,  Ameri- 
can Baptist  Publication  Society. 

Wayland,  Memoir  of  Adoniram  Judson,  2  Vols.  Boston,  Phillips, 
Sampson  &  Company,   1854. 

Valuable  for  letters,  descriptions,  and  other  details  not  found 

in  briefer  treatment. 

Hubbard,  Ann  of  Ava.  Philadelphia,  American  Baptist  Publica- 
tion Society,  1913. 

Taylor,  Memoir  of  Luther  Rice.    Baltimore,  1841. 

Centennial  Dates.  Boston,  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission 
Society,  1913. 

Merriam,  A  History  of  American  Baptist  Missions,  Chaps.  I  to 
III.  Philadelphia,  American  Baptist  Publication  Society, 
1913. 

Hull,  Judson  the  Pioneer.  Philadelphia,  American  Baptist  Pub- 
lication Society,  1913. 


AMONG  ANIMISTS  IN  ASSAM 


CHAPTER  III 
AMONG  ANIMISTS  IN  ASSAM 

The  Land  of  Assam.  The  province  of  Assam  Hes 
between  Bengal  on  the  west,  Tibet  on  the  north,  Burma 
on  the  southeast,  and  the  Indian  Ocean  on  the  south. 
In  shape  it  is  a  majestic  amphitheater,  surrounding 
the  great  valley  of  the  Brahmaputra  River.  The  Him- 
alayas guard  the  north,  and  to  the  east  and  south  the 
noble  ranges  known  as  the  Garo,  the  Mikir,  and  the 
Naga  Hills,  though  we  should  call  them  high  moun- 
tains. Assam  lies  about  as  far  south  as  Florida,  but 
is  far  hotter,  with  steaming  valleys  and  dense  jungles 
filled  with  wild  beasts;  one  section  records  the  heaviest 
rainfall  in  the  world.  Here  are  the  famed  tea-gardens 
and  cotton-plantations  that  are  drawing  to  the  province 
laborers  from  many  countries.  In  the  mountains  are 
wonderful  mineral  wealth  and  noble  forests  of  hard 
woods. 

The  Races  of  Assam.  Assam  too  is  a  melting-pot 
for  many  races.  At  least  eighty  languages  are  spoken 
in  a  population  of  six  millions.  The  Assamese,  about 
a  fourth  of  the  whole,  are  valley  people,  a  mixed  race 
descended  from  those  who  conquered  the  land  cen- 
turies ago.  They  are  idolaters  after  the  sort  of  the 
most  degraded  Hinduism,  full  of  caste  and  supersti- 
tion and  hideous  immorality.       They   are  indolent  too, 

67 


68  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

with  indifference  and  contempt  for  new  forms  of 
thought  or  hfe.  There  is  also  a  large  section  of  the 
population  made  up  of  Bengali  immigrants  from  the 
west,  both  Hindu  and  Moslem.  There  are,  besides, 
Chinese  and  Laos  and  Shan  folk,  who  come  to  work 
in  the  tea-gardens  and  rice-plantations.  On  the  moun- 
tains and  in  the  forests  are  the  many  tribes  of  primi- 
tive people,  the  Garos,  Nagas,  ]\Iikirs,  and  others, 
savage  and  bloodthirsty.  In  the  old  days  their  fierce 
marauding  bands  made  life  insecure  to  dwellers  in  the 
plain,  and  the  Garo  and  Naga  head-hunters  wore  with 
pride  their  necklaces  of  cowrie  shells,  each  shell  of 
which  represented  the  head  of  a  human  victim  they 
had  slain. 

Planting  of  the  Mission.  Assam  is  one  of  the  oldest 
of  the  mission  fields  entered  by  the  American  Baptists. 
When  the  mission  was  planted  it  was  thought  that 
Assam  would  prove  the  highway  by  which  the  gospel 
should  enter  into  closed  China.  The  caravan  routes 
from  India  lay  through  Assam,  and  it  was  planned  to 
establish  a  chain  of  missions  by  which  the  mission- 
aries should  introduce  the  gospel  into  the  western 
provinces  of  China.  The  opening  for  the  mission 
came  through  the  invitation  of  the  English  commis- 
sioner residing  at  Gauhati.  He  promised  to  give  one 
thousand  rupees  if  the  American  missionaries  would 
settle  in  Assam,  and  a  thousand  more  for  the  first 
printing-press.  Two  missionaries  in  Burma,  Nathan 
Brown  and  O.  B.  Cutter,  a  practical  printer,  were  set 
apart  for  this  work.  In  the  two  months  before  leav- 
ing Burma  Mr.  Brown  acquired  a  vocabulary  of  three 


AMONG  ANIMISTS  IN  ASSAM  69 

thousand  words  in  Shan  in  the  expectation  that  this 
would  be  the  language  of  the  territory  in  Assam  to 
which  he  was  going.  Adoniram  Judson  wrote  in  re- 
gard to  the  enterprise,  "  My  heart  leaps  for  joy  to 
think  of  Brother  Brown  at  Sadiya  and  of  all  the  inter- 
vening stations  between  there  and  Bangkok,  Siam. 
Happy  lot,  to  live  in  these  days."  The  Browns  and 
the  Cutters  went  over  to  Calcutta,  and  from  there  set 
sail  in  a  crazy  little  native  boat  for  a  voyage  of  eight 
hundred  miles  across  the  bay  and  up  the  Brahmaputra 
River.  They  journeyed  for  four  months,  seeking  a 
location  for  the  mission.  After  numerous  adventures 
and  hairbreadth  escapes,  they  settled  at  Sadiya.  Dur- 
ing the  months  of  the  voyage  they  had  been  diligently 
studying  the  language,  with  the  aid  of  a  Shan  teacher 
sent  to  them  by  Major  Jenkins,  the  British  commis- 
sioner. Imagine  their  consternation  when  on  visiting 
the  villages  around  Sadiya  they  found  only  a  handful 
of  Shans  in  the  population,  and  learned,  on  further 
investigation,  that  the  main  body  of  these  people  were 
gone  out  of  their  reach,  beyond  the  mountains.  There 
was  nothing  to  do  but  put  to  it  and  learn  Assamese. 
Quality  o£  the  Pioneers.  Of  what  splendid  stuff  are 
missionaries  made !  Nothing  daunted  by  this  bad  be- 
ginning, they  adjusted  themselves  to  building  a  home 
in  the  wilderness.  They  made  the  axes  by  which 
timber  was  to  be  cut  for  their  dwellings ;  they  made 
the  bricks  and  baked  them,  burned  the  lime  for  the 
mortar,  and  in  the  meanwhile,  in  their  struggle  for 
life,  picked  up  Assamese  without  dictionary,  or  gram- 
mar, or  interpreter.     It  was  the  same  old  methodless 


70  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

method  that  John  Williams  used  with  such  good 
effect  in  the  South  Seas,  and  it  gave  them  a  grip  on 
the  every-day  vocabulary  of  the  people  that  no  book 
study  could  ever  have  given.  In  three  months  Mrs. 
Brown  and  Mrs.  Cutter  were  teaching  girls,  and  Mr. 
Brown,  true  to  Yankee  traditions,  had  compiled  a 
spelling-book. 

A  Genius  for  Languages.  Nathan  Brown  had  a 
genius  for  languages.  In  twenty-seven  months  after 
they  had  settled  their  huts  in  the  forest  he  had  trans- 
lated into  Assamese  eleven  school-books,  containing 
two  hundred  and  thirty  pages,  and  thirteen  chapters 
of  Matthew's  Gospel.  Mr.  Cutter  had  printed  school- 
books  and  Gospels,  nearly  five  thousand  copies  of 
them.  Later,  Mr.  Brown  became  the  translator  of 
the  New  Testament  into  Assamese,  and  saw  it 
through  three  editions.  He  wrote  a  life  of  Christ,  a 
catechism,  and  a  story  of  Joseph.  He  translated  "  Pil- 
grim's Progress,"  and  wrote  many  hymns.  After 
twenty  years  of  unremitting  toil  in  Assam  it  became 
evident  that  in  order  to  save  his  life  Nathan  Brown 
must  return  to  America.  This  he  did,  in  1855,  and 
later,  despairing  of  restoration  to  health,  he  severed 
his  connection  with  the  society,  afterward,  however,  be- 
coming one  of  the  first  missionaries  to  Japan. 

Bible  Translations.  In  fact  the  missionaries  in 
Assam  have  added  laurels  to  the  many  won  by  Bap- 
tist missionaries  as  translators.  In  the  field  of  lexi- 
cography and  translation  the  denomination  has  cause 
to  feel  great  pride  in  the  record  made  by  its  mis- 
sionaries.    E.  W.  Clark,  D.  D.,  the  beloved  missionary 


CHRISTIAN    TANGKHUL   NAGAS    AT   UKHRUL 


IN    THE    INDUSTRIAL    SCHOOL    AT    JORHAT 


AMONG  ANIMISTS  IN  ASSAM  71 

to  the  Nagas,  so  recently  deceased,  gave  them  the  book  of 
God  in  their  own  tongue.  Scholarly  and  distinguished 
service  on  the  revision  and  translation  committees  has 
been  rendered  by  E.  G.  Phillips,  D.  D.,  M.  C.  Mason, 
D.  D.,  P.  H.  Moore,  D.  D.,  and  A.  K.  Gurney,  D.  D. 

Early  Industrial  Missions.  When  we  conceitedly 
suppose  that  industrial  missions  are  a  modern  devel- 
opment, due  to  the  broader  equipment  of  our  foreign 
missionaries,  it  is  good  to  remember  the  English 
Baptist  beginnings  in  India,  and  that  the  very  first 
year  in  Assam  Mr.  Brown  wrote  to  the  Board  in 
Boston,  telling  of  the  piteous  destitution  of  the  people, 
and  asking  that  a  scientific  farmer  be  sent  out  to  teach 
the  people  agriculture.  "  The  soil  around  Sadiya,"  he 
wrote,  "  is  inferior  to  none  in  the  world,  producing  all 
the  tropical  fruits,  and  would  produce  nearly  all  those 
of  the  temperate  regions."  In  every  land  where  mis- 
sionaries have  gone  they  have  been  the  pioneers  of 
better  industrial  life.  Tea,  an  indigenous  plant,  was 
discovered  by  an  early  missionary  to  Assam.  They 
have  introduced  coffee-culture  into  Africa,  orange  and 
cotton  growing  in  the  South  Sea  Islands,  have  been 
weavers,  smiths,  bricklayers,  printers,  lacemakers, 
architects,  road-builders,  and  civil  engineers.  The  slow- 
ness and  indifference  of  the  home  church  has  been  the 
only  limitation  to  their  efforts. 

Mission  at  Sadiya  Abandoned.  While  the  Browns 
and  Cutters  were  toiling  in  the  language,  translating 
the  New  Testament  and  preparing  school-books,  the 
wild  hill-folk  broke  out  in  insurrection  in  1839,  fired 
the  town,  killed  the  commandant  and  forced  the  mis- 


72  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

sionaries  and  townsfolk  into  the  fort,  where  they 
existed  through  four  months  of  famine  and  disease. 
The  town  and  surrounding  country  was  depopulated 
through  fear  of  these  fierce  hill-tribes,  and  the  mission 
was  broken  up.  The  Bronsons  decided  to  go  to  Jaipur, 
where  large  tea-gardens  were  being  established  and 
where  there  was  a  prospect  of  a  growing  population. 
Thus  rung  down  the  curtain  on  the  first  act  of  mis- 
sions in  Assam.  It  was  sixty-six  years  before  the 
work  so  disastrously  interrupted  at  Sadiya  was  re- 
sumed. In  1906,  however,  the  station  was  reopened 
by  the  Jackmans,  who  began  work  for  the  Abors,  but 
hoped  also  to  reach  the  Miri  people  in  the  mountains. 
The  following  year  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Kirby  joined 
them  to  begin  medical  work.  Sadiya  is  at  present  an 
important  center  for  many  tribes,  and  because  on  the 
road  to  one  of  the  leading  passes  into  Tibet  it  seems 
destined  to  be  increasingly  important  from  a  political 
and  commercial  standpoint,  and  hence  increasingly 
valuable  as  a  center  for  missionary  work. 

Printing-Press  at  Jaipur.  When  the  missionaries 
were  driven  out  of  Sadiya  they  decided,  as  has  been 
said,  to  establish  the  work  at  Jaipur.  Here  the  print- 
ing-press was  soon  set  up  and  was  busy  in  getting  out 
the  first  books  in  five  different  languages.  Few  people 
have  any  idea  of  the  incessant  and  exhausting  work 
done  by  missionaries  in  every  land  in  the  composition 
and  printing  of  text-books.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to 
say  that  the  missionaries  have  provided  the  text-books 
for  the  schools  of  most  of  the  non-Christian  world.  A 
terrible  epidemic  of  fever  in  Jaipur  forced  the  mis- 


AMONG  ANIMISTS  IN  ASSAM  73 

sionaries  for  a  time  to  take  refuge  in  the  mountains, 
and  there  they  hved  Hke  tree-men  on  a  phitform  in  a 
big  tree,  with  only  the  leaves  for  a  roof.  It  is  related 
of  Mrs.  Brown  during  this  period  that  when  she  had 
started  home  with  two  sick  children,  she  snatched  time 
to  complete  the  manuscript  of  the  arithmetic  she  was 
preparing  for  the  press,  while  tossing  about  in  the 
wretched  little  boat  which  took  her  from  Jaipur  to 
Calcutta.  Perceiving  the  importance  of  the  station, 
Mr.  Brown  kept  writing  home  to  plead  that  a  mis- 
sionary be  sent  for  each  race,  saying  that  this  work 
was  but  a  drop  in  the  ocean,  and  would  be  soon  lost 
in  the  desolate  darkness  unless  reenforcements  were  at 
once  sent. 

Reenforcement  Sent  to  Assam.  In  1837  Miles  Bron- 
son  and  Jacob  Thomas,  with  their  wives,  braved  the 
perils  of  the  eight-hundred-mile  voyage  from  Calcutta  in 
the  usual  native  boat,  nearly  perished  during  the  hard- 
ships of  the  trip,  and  when  they  were  within  an  hour  of 
Sadiya  Mr.  Thomas  was  accidentally  killed.  When 
an  English  officer  had  urged  Mr.  Bronson  not  to 
attempt  the  ascent  of  the  river  that  season,  his  reply 
was  characteristic  of  the  quality  of  the  man : 

"  Would  you  hesitate,"  he  asked,  "  if  you  were 
ordered  to  join  the  regiment  in  Sadiya?" 

"  No,  sir,"  came  the  quick  reply. 

"  Then  we  dare  not  delay  when  our  heavenly  Cap- 
tain bids  us  advance  to  join  the  little  force  awaiting 
and  expecting  our  arrival." 

Planting  a  Mission  at  Sibsagor.  In  1841  it  began 
to  be  seen  that  Jaipur  was  not  the  best  location  for 


74  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

the  mission,  as  the  tea-gardens  had  proved  disappoint- 
ing and  the  population  was  continually  fluctuating. 
After  a  tour  in  which  a  number  of  locations  had  been 
investigated,  it  was  agreed  that  Sibsagor  furnished 
the  best  opening,  and  in  1843  Jaipur  was  abandoned. 
By  1846  there  were  six  hundred  pupils  in  the  Sibsagor 
schools;  and  nearly  four  million  pages  of  school-books, 
hymnals,  catechisms,  tracts,  and  Gospels  had  been 
printed  by  the  mission  press.  The  work  in  Sibsagor, 
however,  has  proved  disappointing  as  far  as  numerical 
results  among  the  Assamese  are  concerned.  Statistics, 
gathered  at  the  time  of  the  Jubilee  Conference  in  1896, 
showed  that  only  forty-four  Assamese  converts  had 
been  baptized  through  the  Sibsagor  station  during 
the  fifty  years.  During  this  same  period,  many  hun- 
dreds of  baptisms  had  occurred  among  the  hill  people. 
Nor  was  the  experience  at  Sibsagor  unique.  In  gen- 
eral it  may  be  said  that  the  most  encouraging  results 
in  Assamese  missions  have  been  met  among  the  primi- 
tive hill  people,  and  not  among  Assamese. 

Some  Early  Converts.  During  the  first  ten  years  at 
Sibsagor  but  twelve  self-supporting  churches  were 
formed  among  these  hill  people,  with  a  membership  of 
six  hundred  and  fifty-two.  Yet  some  of  those  few 
scattering  early  converts  among  the  Assamese  were 
wonderful  trophies  of  the  gospel.  The  first  convert. 
Nidi  Levi,  became  a  great  preacher,  poet,  and  trans- 
lator, and  wrote  hymns  that  will  never  be  forgotten 
among  his  countrymen.  Another,  Kandura,  a  con- 
vert from  the  orphanage  established  by  Doctor  Bron- 
son  in  Nowgong  in  1843,  had  grown  up  to  be  a  good 


AMONG  ANIMISTS  IN  ASSAM  75 

scholar,  and  held  a  government  position  paying  him 
twenty  dollars  a  month.  When  Mr.  Whiting,  the  mis- 
sionary at  Gauhati,  was  compelled  to  return  home,  and 
the  little  church  would  be  left  shepherdless,  Kandura 
voluntarily  relinquished  his  distinguished  position  (for 
such  it  was  in  native  eyes)  and  became  pastor  at  a 
salary  of  seven  dollars  and  fifty  cents  a  month.  "  Can 
you  hold  out  until  help  comes  ?  "  asked  the  missionary. 
"  My  wish,"  replied  Kandura,  "  is  to  hold  on  until  death." 
An  Old  Bard.  At  the  time  of  the  Jubilee  Confer- 
ence a  letter  was  read  from  I.  J.  Stoddard,  giving 
reminiscences  of  the  early  days  in  the  Assam  Mission, 
in  which  he  told  the  story  of  another  early  convert,  a 
little  dried-up  old  man  whom  he  first  met  at  Gauhati 
in  1867.  This  man  had  been  in  Goalpara  when  the 
English  evangelist  Bion  was  distributing  tracts  in  the 
bazaar.  He  took  one  called  the  "  True  Refuge."  The 
old  man  had  been  a  sort  of  village  bard,  going  from 
village  to  village,  chanting  songs  about  the  gods.  So 
he  learned  this  new  sura  and  chanted  it  over  many 
times  until  he  began  to  understand  it  a  little,  and  to 
be  a  bit  interested  and  a  little  frightened.  The  people, 
when  he  began  to  chant  the  "  True  Refuge,"  ridiculed 
him.  But  finally  he  started  for  Gauhati  to  find  a  teacher 
who  could  tell  him  the  meaning  of  the  strange  writing. 
He  and  his  wife  were  nine  days  on  the  journey,  wading 
through  water  and  mud,  sleeping  under  trees,  wet  and 
hungry  and  almost  starving.  The  people  in  the  vil- 
lages through  which  he  passed  thought  him  crazy, 
because  he  called  out  to  every  one  he  met,  "  Life, 
life,   eternal   life!     Who   will   tell   us   about   it?"     At 


76  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Gauhati  he  found  the  missionaries,  who  taught  him 
the  answer  to  the  questions  that  were  perplexing 
him,  and  later  baptized  him,  and  from  this  time  the 
old  man  went  from  village  to  village  with  a  joyful 
heart,  chanting  salvation  to  the  people. 

Heroic  Endurance.  Assamese  missions  in  these 
early  years  needed  the  kind  of  courage  which  could 
hold  on  until  death.  ^lissionaries  were  invalided 
home,  or  died  on  the  field.  Families  were  broken  up 
by  the  death  of  wife  or  mother.  Stations  were  left 
for  months  without  any  missionary  care.  The  feeble 
flame  seemed  almost  to  go  out,  yet  nothing  could 
quench  it.  The  Danforths,  the  Stoddards,  the  Wards, 
the  Whitings,  the  Barkers,  were  added  to  the  forces  at 
Gauhati,  Nowgong,  Sibsagor.  After  long  years  of  slow, 
uphill,  discouraging,  unending  work,  of  the  kind  that 
tests  faith  and  discloses  character,  a  brighter  day 
began  to  dawn  for  the  mission  in  Assam.  It  is  worthy 
of  record  that  at  one  time  Gauhati  was  left  for  nine 
years,  from  1858  to  1867,  without  any  resident  mis- 
sionary, and  again  for  seven  years. 

Opening  of  the  Garo  Villages.  When  the  encour- 
agement came,  however,  it  was  not  so  much  in  the 
mission  devoted  to  the  Assamese  as  in  the  newer 
enterprises  which  had  turned  to  the  wild  hill-people. 
The  story  of  the  opening  of  the  Garo  villages  to  the 
gospel  of  Christ  is  one  of  the  romances  of  missions. 
In  1847  the  British  Government  had  started  a  school 
in  Goalpara  in  hope  of  gaining  some  influence  over 
the  wild  Garos.  There  were  only  ten  pupils  in  the 
school,  but  two  of  these  boys  were  destined  to  be  the 


AMONG  ANIMISTS  IN  ASSAM  'jy 

instruments  by  whom  God  would  open  the  work 
among  the  people. 

A  Handicap  that  was  a  Blessing.  One  of  these 
boys  was  named  Ramkhe.  He  had  from  a  child 
longed  for  education,  but  only  secured  the  coveted 
opportunity  because  a  broken  arm  prevented  him 
from  being  useful  in  the  field.  The  terrible  prospect 
of  future  transmigration  of  souls,  in  which  all  the 
Garos  believe,  haunted  the  boy,  and  he  wondered  if 
there  were  not  a  "  spirit  better  and  stronger  and  wiser 
and  greater  than  Garo  demons,  and  if  this  spirit  could 
not  bless  him  if  it  so  chose."  So  he  used  to  pray  to 
this  unknown  God. 

Ramkhe  and  the  Torn  Tract.  The  other  boy  was 
named  Omed,  and  he  and  Ramkhe  used  to  talk  over 
their  spiritual  difficulties.  After  a  time  they  became 
sepoys  in  the  British  army,  and  one  day  Ramkhe  was 
sent  to  guard  an  empty  mission  house  which  was  to 
be  prepared  for  the  use  of  an  army  officer.  While 
sweeping  one  of  the  rooms  he  picked  up  one  of  the 
torn  fragments  of  a  tract.  Now  that  tract  was  one  of 
a  number  which  an  English  missionary  had  scattered 
in  great  quantities  throughout  Assam  some  time  be- 
fore this,  while  making  a  tour.  As  Ramkhe  read  the 
tract  he  was  pricked  to  the  heart.  He  sought  out  a 
native  Christian  who  could  tell  him  more  of  the  message 
which  he  believed  to  be  that  of  the  true  gospel,  found 
at  last  in  this  torn  fragment.  He  told  Omed  what 
he  had  found,  and  both  were  later  baptized  by  Doctor 
Bronson,  February  8,  1863.  Soon  after  this  Ramkhe 
was   dismissed   from   the   service   on   account   of   his 


78  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

crippled  arm.  Omecl  also  secured  release,  and  he  and 
Ramkhe  decided  to  return  to  their  people  in  the  hills 
to  carry  the  good  news  of  Christianity.  At  this  time 
the  Garos  were  living  in  the  wild  hill-country,  a  tract 
about  three  thousand,  six  hundred  square  miles  in 
area.  The  district  was  wholly  composed  of  sharp, 
ridgy  mountains,  divided  by  rough  ravines,  impassable 
to  carts  or  even  ponies,  and  only  to  be  reached  on 
foot. 

Telling  Their  Own  People.  The  Garos  were  true 
savages,  wild,  brave,  and  cruel,  afraid  only  of  the 
evil  spirits  by  whom  they  believed  the  mountains  to 
be  peopled.  In  a  few  months  seven  of  the  relatives 
of  these  two  men  accepted  Christ.  Ramkhe  opened  a 
school,  while  Omed  went  from  village  to  village,  tell- 
ing the  story  of  the  gospel.  A  terrible  persecution 
soon  gathered  against  the  little  body  of  believers,  the 
fury  of  which  drove  them  from  the  mountain  villages. 
Omed  stationed  himself  by  the  path  where  all  the  hill- 
folk  must  pass  when  they  came  down  to  market  at 
Gauhati.  Here  he  built  a  hut  of  grass  and  lived  in  it. 
He  spoke  to  all  who  would  stop  to  hear  his  message. 
Gradually  others  followed  him,  until  a  little  village 
was  built  up,  whose  inhabitants  were  wholly  com- 
posed of  the  persecuted  Garo  Christians.  This  village 
they  called  Rajasimla.  Here  Doctor  Bronson  organ- 
ized the  first  church  of  forty  Garo  Christians.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Stoddard  made  the  first  extended  tour  through 
these  hidden  mountain  villages,  perched  in  the  fast- 
nesses of  the  Garo  Hills.  They  found  wide-spread  in- 
fluence of  the  work  of  Omed  and  Ramkhe.    The  chiefs 


.4 


AMONG  ANIMISTS  IN  ASSAM  79 

were  friendly,  and  the  people  willing  to  listen  to  the 
message.  By  1869  there  were  one  hundred  and  forty 
Christians  in  the  Garo  Hills. 

Beginning  of  Schools.  From  the  beginning  the 
missionaries  found  it  necessary  to  emphasize  educa- 
tional work.  The  Garos  were  ruined  by  sin.  To 
leave  them  without  any  training  for  their  leaders 
was  to  doom  them  to  an  evanescent  and  powerless 
type  of  Christianity.  The  government  attempts  to 
introduce  education  had  failed  among  these  hill- 
tribes.  The  people  were  too  besottedly  ignorant  to 
desire  or  appreciate  an  education.  In  the  govern- 
ment report  of  1881,  the  chief  commissioner  of  edu- 
cation reported  as  follows :  "  It  is  difficult  to  convince 
a  Garo  or  a  Naga  of  the  advantage  of  learning.  The 
only  lever  that  has  been  found  effective  is  that  of 
religion." 

Proposition  by  the  Government.  Experience 
showed  that  where  the  government  failed  in  estab- 
lishing secular  schools,  the  missionaries  were  able, 
little  by  little,  to  create  in  these  darkened  minds  an 
appetite  for  better  things.  In  1873  the  government 
proposed  that  if  the  Baptist  mission  would  prosecute 
the  educational  work  with  vigor,  and  locate  a  mis- 
sionary in  each  of  the  hill-tribes,  it  would  turn  over 
the  entire  educational  work  to  the  care  of  the  mis- 
sion, and  would  liberally  support  the  enterprise.  But 
the  Baptists  of  America  had  neither  men  nor  money 
to  take  advantage  of  this  offer.  It  was  not  until 
1878  that  the  proposition  could  be  accepted,  and  the 
normal    school    for    the    training    of    teachers    removed 


8o  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

to  Tura.  The  missionaries  were  left  in  immediate 
control  of  all  the  schools  in  heathen  villages,  and  had, 
of  course,  in  the  Christian  villages,  full  direction  of 
the  work.  Their  aim  was  to  get  each  Christian  vil- 
lage to  build  its  own  schoolhouse,  buy  its  own  school- 
books,  and  make  what  contribution  it  could  to  the 
salary  of  the  school-teacher. 

Education  as  an  Evangelizing  Agency.  Dr.  E.  G. 
Phillips  gave  a  striking  testimony  to  the  spiritual 
efficiency  of  these  schools  in  the  paper  which  he  read 
before  the  Mission  Jubilee  Conference  in  Assam, 

Our  school  work  has  been  an  efficient  agency  in 
evangelization.  Our  Christian  school-teacher  is  in  a 
position  to  exert  a  constant  influence.  Not  infre- 
quently the  interest  awakened  by  the  evangelist  has 
been  followed  by  a  petition  for  a  Christian  school- 
teacher, and  around  these  Christian  teachers  all  of  our 
Christian  communities,  with  perhaps  one  or  two  ex- 
ceptions, have  sprung  up.  First  the  pupils  are 
brought  to  Christ,  and  then  the  parents  and  others. 
In  1877,  in  one  day  Mr.  Mason  and  a  native  pastor 
baptized  eighty  converts,  the  result  with  God's  bless- 
ing of  such  school  work.  .  .  Nine  or  ten  miles 
from  Goalpara  a  grand  work  began  in  1880.  The  gos- 
pel had  been  preached  there  from  the  first  coming  of 
the  missionary.  In  one  place  a  few  converts  had  been 
gathered,  but  the  heart  of  the  people  seemed  hard. 
But  in  1877  a  teacher  (a  native  Christian)  was  sent 
to  this  village.  .  .  What  seemed  to  be  a  gospel- 
hardened  community  became  a  Christian  community. 
In  1880  seventy-eight  were  baptized,  in  1881  fifty- 
eight,  and  in  1882  thirty.  And  now  in  1886  the  church 
supports  its  own  pastor. 


AMONG  ANIMISTS  IN  ASSAM  8i 

Again  Doctor  Phillips  says,  in  speaking  of  the  Boys' 
Training  School  at  Tura : 

I  know  of  none  for  years  who  have  passed  through  the 
school  unconverted  except  a  few  sons  of  Tura  policemen. 
Two  hundred  and  thirty-seven  had  been  in  the  school 
since  it  began.  Some  of  them  stayed  only  for  a  short 
time.  Of  these  two  hundred  and  thirty-seven,  I  know 
of  but  fourteen  who  left  school  unconverted,  and  of 
these  .  .  .  six  were  Hindus,  leaving  only  eight  Garos.  .  . 
One  hundred  and  three  have  engaged  in  teaching  or  have 
been  employed  in  some  religious  work.  Of  those  who 
have  not  been  thus  employed,  some  have  been  helpers 
in  church  work.  This  school  is  considered,  and  must 
continue  to  be  considered,  a  very  important  part  of 
our  work. 

The  Garo  Women.  While  the  educational  work  for 
boys  presented  serious  difficulties,  these  were  as 
nothing  as  compared  with  those  which  beset  the  un- 
dertaking to  train  and  educate  Garo  girls  and  women. 
To  be  sure,  these  Garo  women  were  free.  They  could 
come  and  go  as  they  pleased,  visit  the  markets,  trade, 
and  engage  in  business.  When  speaking  of  the  hus- 
band and  wife,  the  woman's  name  always  came  first. 
This  was  no  sign  of  respect,  for  the  Garo  men  re- 
garded them  with  deep  contempt.  A  man  might  beat 
his  wife  if  he  chose,  and  felt  disgraced  to  have  a 
woman  sit  in  front  of  him.  The  women  were  beasts 
of  burden,  digging  in  the  gardens,  helping  clear  the 
jungles,  cultivating  the  fields.  And  after  the  day's 
work  was  over  for  their  husbands,  they  still  had  their 
work  to  do  in  collecting  the  fire-wood,  bringing  the 

F 


82  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

water  from  the  spring,  cooking  the  rice,  and  attend- 
ing to  the  primitive  housekeeping. 

Difficulties  in  Starting  a  Girls'  School.  It  was  in 
1874  that  Mrs.  Keith  gathered  together  the  first  group 
of  sliy  little  wild  girls  from  the  Garo  Hills.  Parents 
regarded  the  attempt  to  teach  girls  to  read  with 
amused  incredulity,  and  were  so  unwilling  to  let  their 
daughters  come,  that  the  undertaking  was  given  up 
at  the  end  of  the  year.  In  1887  Mrs.  Burdette  made 
another  attempt  in  Tura.  She  sent  out  word  for 
Christian  girls  to  be  l)rought  in  to  her  to  attend 
school,  and  then  sat  all  day  at  her  window  watching 
to  see  the  little  procession  of  parents  and  daughters 
coming  down  from  the  hills.  She  might  as  well  have 
watched  for  an  airship.  Not  to  be  defeated  by  the 
indifference  of  the  people,  she  resolved  that,  if  the 
girls  would  not  come  to  her,  she  would  go  to  the 
girls.  She  gathered  a  group  of  heathen  coolies  and 
alone  undertook  the  difficult  task  of  threading  the 
deep  jungles,  and  fording  the  mountain  streams,  and 
finding  her  way  along  the  precipitous  paths  that  led 
to  the  villages  in  the  hills.  The  journey  to  the  nearest 
Christian  village  occupied  her  one  week.  She  then 
went  from  village  to  village,  visiting  fifteen  villages 
in  her  attempt  to  overcome  the  prejudices  of  parents 
so  far  that  they  might  allow  her  to  take  their  daugh- 
ters back  to  the  station  with  her  for  a  term  of  school- 
ing. She  stayed  to  the  meeting  of  the  Association, 
and  as  a  result  induced  ten  girls,  mostly  orphans,  in 
such  wretched  circumstances  that  any  change  was 
welcome,  to  make  the  great  experiment.     At  the  end 


AMONG  ANIMISTS  IN  ASSAM  83 

of  a  year  all  but  three  returned  to  their  villages,  and 
when  the  time  came  for  school  to  open  in  the  fall  only 
one  old  student  and  one  new  student  presented  them- 
selves. 

"  Mahomet  goes  to  The  Mountain."  Mrs.  Burdette 
decided  to  go  herself  and  spend  a  year  in  one  of  the 
mountain  villages,  to  see  if  she  could  not  break  down 
the  prejudices  of  the  people  and  secure  the  foundation 
of  a  permanent  school  for  girls.  Here  for  a  year  she 
lived  in  a  little  bamboo  hut  in  a  Garo  village,  and 
gathered  a  village  school  numbering  thirty-eight 
girls,  some  of  whom  had  come  to  her  from  surrounding 
villages.  As  the  result  of  this  heroic  treatment  she 
had  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  season  twenty-one 
girls  who  were  willing  to  go  down  to  the  boarding-school 
at  Tura. 

The  Unselfish  Mother-Heart.  She  tells  one  touch- 
ing incident  which  shows  that  some  of  these  ignorant 
Garo  mothers  were  able  to  rise  to  heights  of  unselfish- 
ness that  are  not  easy  for  American  mothers  to  at- 
tain. There  was  one  very  bright  little  girl,  about 
twelve  years  old,  whose  mother  was  ill,  and  just  as 
the  girls  were  starting  away,  the  child  weeping,  said 
that  she  could  not  leave  her  mother,  that  she  felt  she 
ought  to  stay  and  take  care  of  her.  To  whom  the 
sick  mother  said:  "  Don't  you  cry,  God  will  take 
care  of  me.  Go  to  school  and  learn  all  that  you 
can.  You  must  not  worry.  If  I  die  I  will  go  to 
Jesus.  Go,  and  may  God  be  with  you."  But  as  they 
were  leaving  the  village  the  girl's  love  for  her  mother 
proved  too  strong,  and  she  returned  to  minister  to 


84  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

her,  and  later  paid  with  her  own  life  the  penalty  for 
her  loyal  devotion.  After  all,  in  America  or  in  the 
Garo  Hills,  we  are  all  "  just  folks." 

Work  Among  Many  Tribes,  The  illustrations  of 
work  among  the  Garos  are  typical  of  what  has  oc- 
curred in  the  missions  to  the  Nagas,  Mikirs,  and 
other  hill-tribes.  The  limits  of  the  chapter  prevent 
the  telling  of  the  story  in  detail.  It  was  true  of  all 
of  them  that  they  were  wild  people,  fierce  and  blood- 
thirsty, who  were  believed  to  be  untameable.  It  has 
been  true  that  the  gospel  has  proved  powerful  to 
change  and  uplift  in  the  case  of  all  alike.  An  intimate 
record  of  life  among  the  Nagas  may  be  found  in  Mrs. 
Clark's,  "  A  Corner  in  India." 

The  Schools  at  Jorhat.  One  of  the  most  significant 
developments  in  educational  work  in  Assam  has  been 
in  the  schools  at  Jorhat.  Here  are  the  Bible  Train- 
ing School,  the  Middle  English  High  School  with 
government  recognition,  and  the  Industrial  School. 
About  one  hundred  boys,  big  and  little,  representing 
many  of  the  tribes  and  peoples  of  Assam,  comprise 
the  pupils.  They  have  four  hours  of  work,  four  hours 
of  lessons,  and  two  hours  of  study  each  day.  A  car- 
penter shop  under  the  direction  of  a  Chinese  car- 
penter turns  out  work  that  finds  ready  sale,  and  helps 
to  pay  the  way  of  about  twenty  boys.  A  printing- 
press,  it  is  hoped,  will  offer  opportunity  for  self-help 
to  others. 

Industrial  Training.  While  it  has  not  been  found 
possible  to  make  the  industrial  work  in  which  all 
share  pay  all  the  expenses  of  the  boys,  it  is  felt  to  be 


AMONG  ANIMISTS  IN  ASSAM  85 

of  the  utmost  value  in  inculcating  a  new  attitude 
toward  labor.  The  missionaries  are  planning  to  sup- 
plement the  work  which  each  boy  does  toward  his 
own  support  by  "  workships,"  rather  than  scholar- 
ships. Meanwhile,  the  missionaries  must  undertake 
the  long  process  of  educating  the  parents  to  permit 
and  desire  their  boys  to  be  educated.  Churches,  as- 
sociations, and  individuals  are  urged  to  provide 
"  workships  "  in  aid  of  needy  students.  In  this  work 
there  is  no  reason  why  American  supporters  should 
not  share.  The  industrial  training  has  the  cordial 
approval  of  the  government,  to  meet  whose  standards 
it  will  be  necessary  to  do  the  work  on  a  scale  larger 
than  has  before  been  attempted.  The  very  careful 
survey  of  the  missionaries  calls  for  an  investment  in 
buildings  and  land  of  at  least  fifteen  thousand  dollars. 
But  these  schools  so  equipped  may  help  to  transform 
the  daily  life  in  Assam. 

Tremendous  Obstacles  to  Overcome.  There  have 
been  many  problems  in  the  school  work  in  Assam. 
The  difficulties  due  to  the  scattered  population,  the 
dense  ignorance  and  poverty  of  the  people,  the  diffi- 
culty in  securing  competent  teachers,  have  continually 
complicated  the  situation.  In  1906  the  government 
made  the  experiment  of  taking  back  into  its  own 
care  fourteen  of  the  village  schools  in  the  Naga  Hills 
which  had  been  entrusted  to  the  missionaries.  But 
the  experiment  did  not  prove  successful,  and  by  1911 
almost  all  of  them  were  closed.  The  schools  were 
again  turned  over  to  the  mission  to  be  reopened  and 
built  up.     There   are  now  two  hundred   and   fifteen 


86  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

village  schools,  the  springs  of  life  hidden  in  the  hills. 
Nothing  but  superb  courage  and  determination  which 
cannot  be  broken,  has  held  the  missionaries  true  to 
their  tasks.  The  results,  however,  are  beginning  to 
be  seen.  The  situation  grows  more  encouraging  every 
year. 

Good  Stuff  in  the  Mountain  People.  If  the  work 
can  only  be  supported  on  any  adequate  basis  of  num- 
bers or  equipment,  there  is  no  reason  why  great  re- 
sults for  Christianity  and  for  civilization  may  not  be 
accomplished  among  these  brave  and  hardy  moun- 
taineers. The  people  are  dirty  and  ignorant  and  de- 
graded, but  they  have  good  stuff  in  them.  The  pic- 
ture shown  on  this  page  of  the  contrast  between  the 
ordinary  wild  Garo  of  the  village  and  the  trained  col- 
lege student,  is  the  record  of  a  transformation  that  is 
little  short  of  miraculous.  A  good  test  of  the  value 
of  the  schools  was  afforded  in  taking  the  govern- 
ment census  in  1910.  There  were  one  hundred 
enumerators  and  fifteen  supervisors  appointed  to  take 
the  census  among  the  Nagas,  and  every  one  of  them 
was  chosen  from  those  who  had  been  educated  in  the 
mission  schools. 

Improvement  Among  the  Women.  Even  on  the 
women  the  results  are  beginning  to  tell.  Although  the 
villagers  still  retain  to  a  good  degree  their  prejudices 
against  the  girls,  the  number  of  girls  in  the  schools 
steadily  increases,  until  they  are  about  one-fourth  as 
numerous  as  the  boys.  Two  of  the  graduates  of  the 
school  have  recently  taken  training  in  Calcutta  in 
midwifery,  and  one  of  them  on  her  return  has  secured 


AMONG  ANIMISTS  IN  ASSAM  87 

a  g-overnment  position  in  a  hospital.  One  Naga 
trained  in  the  school  at  Impur  has  also  become  a 
physician  to  his  people.  Only  a  beginning  has  been 
made  in  reaching  the  hill-people.  Numberless  vil- 
lages and  many  tribes  are  yet  untouched.  The  way 
into  Burma,  into  Siam,  or  into  Tibet  is  bridged  by 
these  tribes  who  form  the  links  between  the  popula- 
tion of  these  countries  and  that  of  Assam ;  and  it  is 
quite  possible  that  a  chain  of  missions  might  be  estab- 
lished which  would  bring  the  missionaries  face  to 
face  with  the  work  in  the  other  countries. 

Boarding-School  at  Nowgong.  One  of  the  most 
interesting  recent  developments  among  girls'  schools 
has  been  the  one  at  Nowgong  in  which  the  distinct 
purpose  is  to  reach  the  upper-class  Assamese  girls, 
both  Hindu  and  Mohammedan.  If  Assam  is  to  be- 
come Christian  we  must  reach  these  influential  classes 
with  the  gospel.  The  school  has  had  very  rapid 
growth  and  now  numbers  one  hundred  and  ninety 
pupils,  ranging  all  the  way  from  the  kindergarten  and 
primary  to  the  normal  department.  The  new  normal 
department  is  regarded  by  the  government  with  great 
favor.  At  the  time  of  the  last  inspection  Miss  Doe 
took  her  courage  in  both  hands  and  asked  for  a  piano. 
The  inspector  graciously  granted  one  thousand 
rupees.  "  I  accepted  it  with  thanks,"  wrote  Miss 
Doe,  "  and  felt  as  natural  as  if  I  were  accustomed 
to  having  pianos  tossed  to  me  every  day." 

Tribute  of  a  Hindu  Official.  A  beautiful  tribute 
was  recently  paid  to  the  quality  of  the  work  done  by 
these  missionaries  in  Nowgong.     It  is  hard  for  one 


88  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

not  fully  acquainted  with  the  exclusiveness  and  isola- 
tion of  caste  to  realize  how  surprising  and  significant 
the  incident  was.  The  wife  of  a  government  official 
had  died.  The  man  was  a  Brahman,  one  of  the 
priestly  twice-born  caste  who  claim  almost  divine 
honors  from  the  common  people.  But  this  man  sent 
to  ask  if  our  Christian  school  would  receive  and  care 
for  his  motherless  infant  until  it  was  three  or  four 
years  old.  He  knew  of  the  kindergarten,  of  the  clean- 
liness, the  tender  care  of  the  Christian  school,  and 
was  willing  to  violate  his  caste  rules  and  brave  the 
deepest  prejudices  of  his  nation  in  order  to  save  the 
child's  life.  People  have  not  yet  recovered  from  the 
surprise.  The  incident  is  an  eloquent  evidence  of  the 
deep  impression  made  on  the  non-Christian  com- 
munity. 

A  Noble  Heritage.  The  Baptists  of  America  have 
a  rich  heritage  in  the  story  of  missions  in  Assam. 
There  is  no  other  body  of  Christians  in  Assam  who 
have  a  work  in  any  way  comparable  to  that  which 
has  been  effected  by  the  devoted  heroism  of  our  pioneer 
missionaries.  Through  a  series  of  misfortunes  which 
has  threatened  at  times  to  overwhelm  the  mission, 
the  work  has  been  steadily  prosecuted.  Names  dear 
to  every  Baptist  are  found  on  the  roll  of  the  workers. 
As  an  illustration,  consider  the  life  of  Dr.  Miles  Bron- 
son.  For  thirty  years  he  and  his  heroic  and  saintly 
wife  journeyed  among  the  hills  and  valleys  of  Assam. 
It  was  he  who  founded  the  orphanage  in  Gauhati 
which  for  years  was  the  very  heart  of  the  mission. 
When  it  was  given  up  in  1854,  on  the  recommenda- 


AMONG  ANIMISTS  IN  ASSAM  89 

tion  of  a  deputation  sent  out  from  headquarters,  it 
was  in  opposition  to  the  unanimous  judgment  of  the 
missionaries,  as  the  strongest  Christian  leaders  in 
Assam  were  men  who  had  been  trained  in  that  early 
orphanage  and  under  the  inspiration  and  care  of  Miles 
Bronson.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  deeds  in  his  life 
was  his  unquestioning  and  unhesitating  acceptance 
of  an  order  from  the  Board  which  took  him  into  a 
difficult  and  untried  field,  when  he  had  been  worn 
out  with  nearly  forty  years  of  work.  Like  the  good 
soldier  that  he  was,  he  undertook  the  task,  and  laid 
down  his  life  in  its  doing.  "  I  believe  the  Sahib  loved 
the  Assamese  better  than  his  own  folks,"  said  one  of 
the  Garo  Christians. 

Tribute  to  Women  Missionaries.  Time  would  fail 
us  to  tell  of  the  Wards,  the  Whitings,  the  Masons,  the 
Phillips,  the  Moores,  the  Burdettes,  the  Stoddards, 
and  the  Clarks,  men  and  women  of  whom  the  world 
is  not  worthy.  But  it  is  not  unfitting  to  pay  special 
tribute  to  the  heroism  of  the  women  who  helped  to 
carry  on  the  work  in  this  most  difficult  field.  For 
long  months  and  years  they  have  had  to  live  in  iso- 
lated stations  with  no  other  European  within  a  week's 
journey.  Sometimes  during  the  absence  of  their  hus- 
bands, who  were  touring  the  district,  they  and  their 
children  have  been  left  absolutely  alone  in  the  mis- 
sion station.  They  have  endured  loneliness,  hunger, 
and  racking  attacks  of  fever.  One  by  one  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  climate  have  broken  them,  but  never 
once  discouraged  them.  Their  heart  has  ever  been 
given  to  the  winning  of  dark  Assam  for  Christ. 


90  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

The  Great  Revival.  The  most  striking  feature  in 
the  work  in  Assam  during  recent  years  was  the  great 
revival  in  Nowgong  in  1906.  Early  in  1905  a  few 
Christians  had  begun  to  pray  for  the  outpouring  of 
the  Spirit  on  their  work,  and  in  May  a  circular  letter 
was  sent  to  all  the  stations  in  Assam  asking  that 
special  meetings  for  prayer  be  held,  and  from  June 
to  October  meetings  were  held  every  night  in  most 
of  the  stations.  These  meetings  were  small,  not  more 
than  ten  or  twenty  people  present,  but  were  charac- 
terized by  earnest  prayer  for  the  outpouring  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  During  this  time  the  majority  of  the 
Christian  people  remained  apparently  untouched.  In 
the  boarding-school  at  Nowgong  began  the  awakening 
which  led  to  the  great  revival.  It  was  in  Novem- 
ber of  1906  that  a  great  spirit  of  prayer  and  consecra- 
tion was  evident  among  the  girls  of  the  school.  After 
Sunday-school  and  the  usual  preaching  service,  they 
had  a  little  prayer-meeting,  beginning  at  two  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon.  A  little  girl  of  eight  or  nine  years 
had  offered  a  prayer  of  deep  penitence,  pouring  out 
her  childish  heart  to  God  in  a  sincere  petition  for 
forgiveness.  "  The  effect  upon  the  listeners,"  said 
Mr.  Moore,  "  was  contagious.  As  if  by  common  im- 
pulse the  whole  congregation  kneeled  and  began  to 
pray.  Strong  and  matter-of-fact  men  seemed  held 
by  an  irresistible  power.  The  meeting  went  on  until 
after  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  closed  in  a 
great  mood  of  joy  and  thanksgiving.  Meetings  of 
similar  power  have  been  held  since,  but  no  two  of 
them  alike.     Human   leadership   has   been   conspicu- 


AMONG  ANIMISTS  IN  ASSAM  91 

ously  absent.  The  Holy  Spirit  manifested  his  power 
in  ways  and  times  quite  unforeseen  and  unexpected." 
As  one  reads  the  accounts  of  the  intense  spiritual 
experiences  through  which  the  Christian  churches  of 
Assam  passed,  one  is  reminded  of  the  revival  seasons 
in  the  early  history  of  our  country  when  whole  com- 
munities were  transformed  by  the  power  of  God. 
The  reports  of  the  missionaries  show  that  the  effects 
of  the  revival  have  been  seen  in  permanent  uplift  in 
the  lives  of  many  Christians.  Boys  and  girls  now  in 
school  have  been  fitted  to  enter  into  a  new  life  of 
power  and  freedom  in  Christ  which  shall  prepare 
them  to  be  the  leaders  and  inspirers  of  their  people 
in  the  coming  generation. 

An  Association  in  the  Hills.  To  see  what  the  gos- 
pel has  done  in  Assam  one  needs  to  go  back  from 
the  cities  away  from  the  big  institutions  to  the  hill 
villages,  to  attend  an  annual  association.  At  the 
village  of  Derek,  for  example,  the  central  unit  of 
churches  numbering  seven  hundred  and  thirty-nine 
members,  an  association  meeting  was  recently  held. 
Some  members  traveled  five  days'  journey  to  be 
present.  Every  church  but  one  sent  a  letter,  and  that 
church  was  a  week's  journey  distant.  While  the 
guests  paid  for  their  food  at  the  association,  the  en- 
tertaining church  had  to  work  hard  to  make  prepara- 
tion. The  women  pounded  and  cleaned  nearly  two 
and  one-half  tons  of  rice,  besides  helping  to  gather 
fire-wood  and  plaintain  leaves  to  serve  as  dishes.  The 
men  removed  two  walls  from  the  bamboo  chapel  and 
built  a  large  temporary   addition,   and  made   thatch 


92  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

sheds  for  all  their  guests.  On  Sunday  morning  1,276 
people  were  present.  Over  four  hundred  women 
gathered  at  the  women's  session  on  Sunday  afternoon. 
An  excellent  Sunday-school  session  was  held,  and 
many  promised  to  go  back  home  to  do  better  work 
in  their  Sunday-schools.  In  such  gatherings  as  these 
one  can  see  the  gospel  seed  taking  root.  A  Garo 
chief  recently  sent  in  a  contribution  for  schools,  say- 
ing:  "  Let  not  one  be  given  up  for  lack  of  funds," 

Strong  Meat  for  Babes.  Into  the  lives  of  these 
primitive  people  is  being  carried  the  greatest  trans- 
forming power  l^nown  to  man,  the  free  gospel  of  the 
grace  of  God.  The  very  primer  in  which  the  child 
learns  to  read  in  the  Welsh  mission  among  the 
Khassia  hills  is  charged  with  revolutionary  ideas,  con- 
ceptions foreign  to  him  and  to  his  fathers.  "  I  sin, 
he  sins,  you  sin.  All  sin  is  wicked.  Do  not  sin  any 
more,"  reads  the  first  lesson.  "  Strong  meat  for 
babes,"  you  say?  Yes,  in  the  hideous  heathenism  of 
Assam  they  need  strong  meat,  if  they  are  to  become 
strong  men.  The  books  prove  themselves  valuable 
by  a  generation  of  clean,  virile,  ambitious  boys  and 
girls  who  are  growing  up  in  the  Garo  and  Naga  Hills. 


AMONG  ANIMISTS  IN  ASSAM  93 


Facts  About  Assam 

Missionaries    64 

Native  workers    378 

Churches    122 

Membership    12,057 

Baptisms  i,i34 

Sunday-school   pupils 7,164 

Percentage    of    increase    ( 1912-1913) 9 

Village   schools    215 

Pupils    4,614 

Average  cost  of  village  schools $25.00 

Contributions  of  native    Christians $4,392 

Garo  Christians  number  6,636,  more  than  half  the  whole 
number. 

Naga  Christians  number  1,614.  Among  immigrant  peoples 
Christians  number  3,456. 

At  present  the  only  other  missionary  society  doing  extensive 
work  in  Assam  is  the  Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodists',  whose 
work  lies  in  the  Khassia  hills.  Their  communicants  are,  per- 
haps, about  as  numerous  as  are  the  Baptists. 


Baptist  Educational  Institutions  in  Assam 

Garo    Training    School,    Tura,    Assam.      Rev.    W.    C.    Mason, 
principal. 

The  source  of  supply  for  Christian  Garo  teachers  and  preach- 
ers. Self-support  is  secured  in  part  by  a  cotton-ginning 
plant.     The  attendance  yearly  is  over  200. 

Jorhat  Bible  School,  Jorhat,  Assam.    Rev.  S.  A.  D.  Boggs,  prin- 
cipal; Rev.  C.  H.  Tilden. 


94  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

It  was  not  until  1906  that  a  school  was  opened  for  the  very 
important  task  of  training  Christian  workers  speaking  the 
Assamese  language.  Beginning  in  a  small  way,  its  numbers 
have  grown  to  over  one  hundred.  The  industrial  department  is 
strong. 

Bibliography 

Brown,  Whole  World  Kin:  A  Pioneer  Experience  of  Nathan 
Broun  Among  Remote  Tribes,  pp.  109-436.  Philadelphia, 
Hubbard,  1890. 

Clark,  A  Corner  in  India.  Philadelphia,  American  Baptist  Pub- 
lication Society. 

Gunn,  In  a  Far  Country.    Philadelphia,  American  Baptist  Publi- 
cation Society,  191 1. 
A  biography  of  Miles  Bronson,  D.  D.,  missionary  to  Assam, 

1836-1879. 

Missions  in  Assa7n.  Boston,  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission 
Society,  1909. 

Merriam,  History  of  American  Baptist  Missions.  Chap.  XIII. 
Philadelphia,  American  Baptist  Publication  Society,  1913. 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA 


MAP  8H0W1NQ  A  PORTION  OF 

SOUTH  INDIA 

OCCUPIED  BY  THE  TELUGU8     " 


U     lu    2U  40  CU 

Stations  of  the  Amerioan  Baptist 
Forei^  Mission  Socict/  In 

.this typo    Madras 


Railroads  thus 


7S      LoiiKiludc  Kast       7'J        from  CiiTinvicli  SO 


CHAPTER  IV 
INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA 

A.    THE   LONE   STAR    MISSION — SOUTH    INDIA 

Telugu  Land.  The  Teltigu  country  is  located  in 
southern  India,  between  the  land  of  the  Tamils  on 
the  south  and  Bengal  on  the  north.  It  is  not  a  recog- 
nized political  division,  but  comprises  a  strip  of 
country  about  six  hundred  miles  long  and  from  three 
to  four  hundred  miles  wide,  stretching  along  the  shore 
of  the  Indian  Ocean.  In  it  are  included  portions  of 
the  Madras  presidency  and  the  independent  state  of 
Hyderabad — called  also  the  Deccan — ruled  over  by  a 
Moslem  prince,  the  Nizam  of  Hyderabad.  The  land 
is  for  the  most  part  level,  with  one  range  of  moun- 
tains running  north  and  south  called  the  Eastern 
Ghats.  The  country  is  exceedingly  populous.  The 
Telugu  people  proper  number  about  seventeen  mil- 
lions, and  in  addition  to  these  there  are  in  the  same 
territory  Moslem  and  Tamil  people,  and  scattered 
Bengali. 

Establishment  of  a  Mission.  It  was  in  1835  that 
the  attention  of  American  Baptists  was  called  to  the 
Telugu  field  by  Amos  Sutton,  one  of  the  English  Baptist 
missionaries  living  to  the  north  of  the  Telugu  country 
in  Orissa.  Only  one  agency,  the  London  Missionary 
Society,  he  said,  was  working  in  this  large  field.  This 
G  97 


98  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

society  had  sent  in  two  missionaries  who  had  ac- 
quired a  knowledge  of  the  language,  prepared  and 
published  a  revised  edition  of  the  New  Testament, 
based  probably  on  the  translation  of  Carey,  and  had 
established  Sunday-schools  and  a  girls'  boarding- 
school,  and  had  built  the  first  Christian  chapel  among 
the  Telugu  people.  It  was  resolved  by  the  American 
Baptists  to  send  out  Rev.  Samuel  F.  Day  to  open  a 
mission  in  this  very  large  and  populous  district;  as 
it  was  evident  that  the  London  Missionary  Society 
was  touching  only  the  edge  of  the  field.  For  three 
years,  while  studying  the  language,  the  Days  were 
located  in  Madras,  a  Tamil  city  with  a  large  Telugu 
population.  During  repeated  and  extensive  tours 
throughout  the  country,  Mr,  Day  found  that  there 
were  within  a  distance  of  four  hundred  miles  at  least 
ten  million  Telugu  people  without  a  resident  mis- 
sionary. It  was  his  conviction  that  as  he  had  been  sent 
out  to  the  Telugus  he  ought  to  be  in  the  heart  of  the 
Telugu  country,  and  he  therefore  decided  to  move  to 
Nellore. 

Station  in  Nellore  Located.  In  order  to  cover  the 
one  hundred  and  eight  miles  between  Madras  and 
Nellore,  it  was  necessary  in  those  days  to  take  a  slow 
and  wearying  journey  by  native  boat  and  bullock- 
cart.  Mr.  Day  reached  Nellore  in  1840,  and  bought 
eight  acres  of  land  for  a  mission  compound.  On  this 
he  built  a  solid  and  substantial  bungalow,  in  firm 
faith  that  he  was  founding  something  that  was  going 
to  last.  It  took  robust  faith  to  believe  such  a  thing, 
for  the  mission  seemed  a  sickly  plant.     The  people 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  99 

were  indifferent  and  suspicious,  when  not  actually 
hostile,  and  listeners  were  few  and  converts  fewer. 
In  1841  the  first  convert  was  baptized,  and  the  church 
of  eight  members,  four  of  them  missionaries,  was 
organized  in  1844.  The  health  of  the  little  missionary 
group  was  seriously  impaired.  In  five  years  the  Van 
Deusens  were  invalided  home,  and  the  Days  were 
left  alone.  Mr.  Day  wrote  touching  appeals  to  the 
board  begging  for  reenforcements,  without  result.  In 
1846  his  own  health  was  so  alarmingly  impaired  that 
his  physicians  ordered  an  immediate  return  to 
America.    But  he  went  reluctantly. 

The  thought  of  leaving  for  our  native  land  gives  little 
satisfaction.  Oh,  the  mission  we  leave,  the  little  church, 
the  few  inquirers,  the  schools,  the  heathen,  yes,  the  hun- 
dred thousand  heathen  immediately  in  our  vicinity,  the 
million  in  the  district,  the  ten  millions  in  our  mission  field ; 
what  will  become  of  them? 

First  Proposal  to  Abandon  the  Mission.  When  Mr. 
Day  reached  home  he  found  the  executive  committee 
of  the  Missionary  Union,  infected  by  the  lack  of  faith 
and  missionary  zeal  of  the  churches  of  that  period, 
seriously  discussing  the  giving  up  of  the  mission.  His 
determined  and  manly  protest  turned  the  scale,  and 
it  was  decided  to  wait  and  see  the  outcome.  When 
the  ten  years  of  fruitless  effort  were  contrasted  with 
the  results  in  Burma,  it  was  felt  by  many  that  it 
would  be  wise  to  close  up  the  mission  in  Nellore  and 
transfer  the  missionaries  to  Burma.  Mr.  Judson,  who 
was  home  on  a  furlough  at  that  time,  said :   ''  I  would 


100  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

cheerfully,  at  my  age,  cross  the  Bay  of  Bengal  and 
learn  a  new  language  rather  than  l)y  the  lift  of  my 
hand  vote  for  the  abandonment  of  this  work." 

The  Jewetts  Reenforce  the  Mission.  The  committee 
left  the  matter  without  final  decision,  and  meanwhile 
Lyman  Jewett  and  his  wife  volunteered  to  go  to  Nellore. 
Mr.  Day  recovered  his  health  and  was  longing  to  go  back. 
The  Board  of  Managers  discussed  the  question  of  con- 
tinuing the  mission,  and  finally  agreed  to  put  over 
the  decision  until  the  annual  meeting  at  Troy,  New 
York.  Rev.  William  R.  Williams,  chairman  of  the 
committee  to  report  on  the  continuance  or  discon- 
tinuance of  the  mission,  wrote  a  powerful  report  in 
favor  of  retaining  the  mission.  After  the  reading  of 
this  report  it  was  voted  to  instruct  the  committee  to 
reenforce  the  mission.  Leaving  his  wife,  who  was 
not  yet  so  recovered  that  she  could  return,  Mr.  Day 
and  the  Jewetts  sailed  from  Boston  in  the  "  Bowditch," 
in  October,  1848,  and  arrived  in  Nellore  in  April, 
1849.  WHio  can  measure  the  discomforts  of  the  voy- 
age in  the  tiny  sailing-vessels  of  those  days,  with 
poor  food,  and  insufficient  supply  of  water,  and 
cramped  quarters?  It  took  real  heroism  to  endure 
the  perils  of  the  journeys,  but  these  missionary 
pioneers  were  not  thinking  of  discomforts.  We  are 
told  that  the  captain  and  many  seamen  were  con- 
verted by  the  efforts  of  the  missionaries  during  the 
long  voyage. 

Discouraging  Condition  in  Nellore.  If  the  brethren 
of  America  had  known  what  had  happened  in  Nellore, 
it  is  to  be  feared  that  not  even  the  eloquence  of  Doc- 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  loi 

tor  Williams  could  have  induced  them  to  vote  to 
continue  the  mission.  Mr.  Day  had  left  the  schools 
and  little  church  in  charge  of  two  Eurasian  Christian 
teachers  who,  as  soon  as  he  was  gone,  "  ran  down  " 
in  alarming  fashion.  They  disbanded  the  schools, 
scattered  the  church,  and  made  the  mission  bungalow 
the  scene  of  debauchery  and  shame.  In  a  letter  to 
his  wife,  written  just  after  his  arrival  in  Nellore,  Mr. 
Day  says : 

I  have  seen  our  once  happy  home  and  walked 
through  the  empty,  desolate  rooms,  now  how  changed. 
.  .  The  assistants  have  turned  aside  from  follow- 
ing the  Lord,  and  by  their  wickedness  the  name  of 
God  is  every  day  blasphemed  among  the  heathen  in 
Nellore.  Thus  we  find  things.  But  could  we  have 
expected  better?  Was  it  right  for  the  mission  to  be 
neglected  thus  long  by  the  churches  in  America? 
.  .  .  My  heart  is  at  times  troubled  and  cast  down 
because  of  the  fewness  of  missionary  laborers  here, 
and  the  little  success  in  the  way  of  conversions  at- 
tending the  labors  of  that  few,  but  my  faith  has  not 
failed  a  moment  since  my  return.  Great  things  ere 
long  will  appear,  and  many  will  turn  to  the  Lord  among 
the  Telugus  ere  many  years  pass. 

Early  Trophies  of  the  Faith.  The  noble  Jewetts 
were  there  to  put  their  mighty  faith  under  the  fainting 
little  mission.  They  soon  gained  remarkable  com- 
mand of  the  language  and  began  touring  among  the 
villages.  Mrs.  Jewett  gathered  a  girls'  boarding- 
school,  sometimes  numbering  only  two  or  three  girls. 
One  of  these,  however,  was  Julia  of  Nellore,  a  splen- 
did trophy  of  the  work.     Mr.  Day  had  opened  other 


102  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

schools  in  which  two  hundred  and  seventy  hoys  were 
gathered,  when  in  1850  there  came  an  order  from 
Boston  to  close  all  the  schools. 

Schools  Ordered  Closed.  This  order  was  in  re- 
sponse to  a  wide-spread  belief  among  Christians  of 
that  day  that  schools  were  not  really  missionary 
work;  that  sacred  funds  such  as  missionary  money 
were  not  to  be  spent  except  to  "  save  souls."  This 
feeling  sprang  from  a  failure  to  see  that  the  Great 
Commission  included  teaching  as  well  as  preaching, 
and  from  a  false  idea  which  divided  the  interests  and 
tasks  of  life  into  the  sacred  and  the  secular.  This 
mistaken  notion  had  tragic  results  in  many  fields  in 
the  retarding  and  weakening  of  the  Baptist  native 
church.  The  order  was  a  crushing  blow  to  Mr.  Day 
and  the  Jewetts.    Mr.  Day  wrote  to  his  wife: 

Yesterday,  September  30,  1850,  we  dismissed  nine 
schoolmasters  and  two  hundred  and  seventy  children, 
all  of  whom  were  daily  occupied  as  the  chief  part  of 
their  duty  in  reading  and  committing  to  memory  the 
precious  word  of  God  in  their  own  tongue. 

The  Deputation  of  1853.  As  if  the  abandonment 
of  the  schools  was  not  a  sufficient  discouragement, 
along  came  a  missionary  deputation  in  1853  to  look 
over  the  field  and  report.  There  was  not  much  to 
show.  In  fact,  for  the  first  twenty-five  years  of  the 
Telugu  Mission,  it  was  one  continuous,  wide-spread 
sowing,  and  very  little  reaping.  The  missionaries, 
poor  things,  thought  they  could  see  signs  of  promise, 
now  and  then,  as  they  talked  with  earnest  inquirers. 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  103 

But  the  deputation  saw  nothing  but  the  bare,  brown 
fields,  for  they  had  planted  no  seeds  of  faith  or  hope. 
So,  on  their  return  home,  like  the  spies  sent  into  the 
promised  land,  they  told  only  of  the  giants  in  that 
land;  and  there  were  no  Calebs  or  Joshuas  among 
them  to  bring  back  a  cluster  of  the  grapes  of  Eshcol. 
At  the  very  next  annual  meeting  up  bobbed  the  ques- 
tion of  abandoning  the  mission.  Why  not?  It  was 
always  more  or  less  painful  to  part  Baptists  from  their 
money  for  missionary  purposes,  and  to  do  it  for  a 
forlorn  and  fruitless  field,  was  too  unpleasant  to  con- 
template. Why  all  this  waste ;  this  gift  of  substance 
poured  out  on  feet  that  seemed  to  heed  it  not? 

The  Lone  Star.  A  proposition  was  made  that  a 
letter  be  written  to  Doctor  Jewett  requesting  him  to 
close  up  the  mission  and  move  to  Burma.  Dr.  Ed- 
ward Bright,  then  corresponding  secretary,  said: 
"  Who  will  write  that  letter,  and  who  zvill  write  that 
letter?"  In  the  evening,  during  the  public  discus- 
sion, one  speaker  pointed  to  the  map  where  the  mis- 
sion stations  were  marked  by  stars,  and  called  Nellore 
"  the  lone  star  mission."  The  phrase  caught  the  at- 
tention of  Rev.  S.  F.  Smith,  the  beloved  author  of 
"  My  Country !  'Tis  of  Thee,"  and  "  The  Morning  Light 
is  Breaking."  Before  he  slept  that  night  he  wrote  the 
lines  beginning: 

Shine  on,  "Lone  Star,"  thy  radiance  bright 
Shall  spread  o'er  all  the  eastern  sky; 

Morn  breaks  apace  from  gloom  and  night; 
Shine  on,  and  bless  the  pilgrim's  eye. 


I04  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Shine  on,  "  Lone  Star,"  thy  radiance  bright 
The  light  that  gleams  with  dubious  ray; 

The  lonely  star  of  Bethlehem 

Led  on  a  bright  and  glorious  day.* 

When  the  poem  was  read  the  next  day  it  went 
straight  to  the  heart  of  the  delegates;  and  it  was 
unanimously  voted  to  continue  and  reenforce  the 
mission.  Meanwhile  things  were  not  very  much 
brighter  in  Nellore.  Mr.  Day's  health  had  been 
broken  down,  and  he  was  obliged  to  return  home, 
never  again  to  return.  When  Mr.  Jewett  learned 
that  it  had  been  proposed  to  remove  him  to  Burma, 
and  how  narrowly  the  peril  had  been  averted,  he  said : 
"  I  would  rather  labor  on  here  as  long  as  I  live,  than 
to  be  torn  up  by  the  roots  and  transplanted.  Faith 
and  my  own  conscience  tell  me  that  I  am  not  labor- 
ing in  vain  in  the  Lord." 

A  Sunrise  Prayer-Meeting.  During  the  latter 
months  of  the  year  1853,  the  Jewetts  and  three 
helpers,  among  them  Julia  of  Nellore  and  Christian 
Nursu,  made  a  long  evangelistic  tour  as  far  as  Guntur 
to  the  north,  and  on  their  return  reached  Ongole  at 
about  Christmas  time.  After  they  had  spent  the 
week  in  street  preaching,  it  was  decided  to  hold  a 
sunrise  prayer-meeting  on  a  bare  and  stony  hill  over- 
looking the  town.  From  every  side  of  its  scrubby 
eminence  there  was  a  prospect  over  the  wide,  populous 
plain,    twinkling    like    the    Milky    Way    with    thick-set 

*The  complete  poem  can  be  had  from  the  headquarters  of 
either  of  the  missionary  societies,   printed   in   attractive  leaflet. 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  105 

villages,  and  in  that  thronging  plain  there  was  not 
one  professed  Christian.  Very  early  in  the  morning, 
as  it  began  to  dawn  toward  the  first  day  of  the  year, 
the  little  group  of  Christians  climbed  the  hill  to  be 
alone  with  God.  There  was  nothing  dramatic  in  their 
action,  no  consciousness  on  their  part  of  taking  part 
in  a  historic  scene.  They  were  a  little  obscure  band, 
quite  naturally  and  simply  obeying  the  desire  of  their 
own  hearts  for  an  hour  of  communion  and  dedication. 
But  generations  yet  unborn  will  visit  that  sacred  hill, 
where  in  faith  God's  children,  in  the  name  of  Christ, 
took  possession  of  the  land  of  the  Telugus. 

The  story  of  what  happened  at  that  sunrise  prayer- 
meeting  is  best  told  by  the  Bible-woman,  Julia  of  Nellore : 

First  we  sang  a  hymn  and  Father  Jewett  prayed. 
Then  Christian  Nursu  prayed.  Then  Father  read  a 
portion  of  Isaiah,  fifty-second  chapter.  "  How  beauti- 
ful upon  the  mountains  are  the  feet  of  him  that 
bringeth  good  tidings,  that  publisheth  peace."  Then 
Mother  Jewett  prayed,  then  I  prayed,  and  then  Ruth 
prayed.  After  we  had  all  prayed,  Father  Jewett  stood 
up  and  stretching  out  his  hand,  said :  "  Do  you  see 
that  rising  piece  of  ground  yonder,  all  covered  over 
with  prickly-pear?  Would  you  not  like  that  spot  for 
our  mission  bungalow  and  all  this  land  to  become 
Christian?  Well,  that  day  will  come."  Then  we  all 
spoke  our  minds,  and  just  as  the  meeting  closed,  the 
sun  rose.  It  seemed  as  if  the  Holy  Spirit  had  lifted 
us  above  the  world,  and  our  hearts  were  filled  with 
thanksgiving  to  the  Lord. 

Doctor  Jewett  on  Retrenchment.  Faith  was  not 
to   be   fulfilled   in   sight,    however,   for   weary   years. 


io6  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Extensive  touring  was  done  by  the  Jewctts  and  the  Doug- 
lasses, who  joined  the  mission  in  1855,  and  a  few 
choice  first-fruits  were  gathered,  among  them  Kana- 
kiah,  the  first  ordained  pastor,  who  later  married  Julia 
of  Nellore,  and  Lydia,  a  caste  woman,  whom  Doctor 
Smith  called  "  Anna,  the  Prophetess."  The  scanty 
rjcsults  lowered  the  subnormal  temperature  of  the 
church  at  home,  and  in  1856  the  executive  committee 
wrote,  fearing  that  "  retrenchments "  would  be  neces- 
sary. Doctor  Jewett's  reply  ought  to  be  committed 
to  memory  by  every  Christian. 

Oh,  Father,  forgive  the  churches.  To  rob  God's 
treasury  is  not  to  distress  missionaries  primarily,  but 
it  is  a  robbery  of  souls,  a  shutting  away  the  gift  of 
eternal  life.  The  missionary  must  part  with  what  he 
loves  far  more  than  any  earthly  boon,  yet  Christians 
at  home  refuse  the  help  they  could  so  easily  give. 
The  very  idea  of  retrenchment  is  hostile  to  everything 
that  deserves  the  name  of  missionary.  Satan  says, 
"  stop  giving."  Jesus  says,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world 
and  preach  the  gospel." 

Second  Proposal  to  Abandon  the  Mission.  In  1862, 
after  thirteen  years  of  apparently  fruitless  labor.  Doc- 
tor Jewett's  health  gave  way,  and  he  and  his  family 
were  obliged  to  return  to  America.  It  was  provi- 
dential that  he  had  to  return,  for  Mr,  Little  Faith 
and  Brother  Much  Afraid  were  again  raising  their 
voices  in  the  home  field,  and  bringing  up  the  peren- 
nial question  of  abandoning  the  Lone  Star  Mission. 
Worldly  Wisdom  had  a  good  case  too.  He  might 
pertinently  point  out   that   they   had   yielded   to   the 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  107 

sentimentalists  twice;  that  once  the  Convention  had 
actually  been  stampeded  by  a  poem.  Was  it  not 
quite  evident,  after  twenty-five  years  of  vain  endeavor, 
that  the  soil  about  Nellore  was  too  hard  or  too  thin 
for  the  gospel  to  take  root?  Why  not  put  good  Bap- 
tist money  where  it  would  count  for  something,  and 
not  waste  money  and  break  down  valuable  lives  in 
a  vain  endeavor? 

Doctor  Jewett  Saves  the  Day.  The  resolution  came 
up  at  the  annual  meeting  in  Providence  in  1862,  and 
would  undoubtedly  have  passed,  such  was  the  senti- 
ment, but  for  the  plea  of  the  corresponding  secretary. 
Doctor  Warren,  that  final  action  be  deferred  until 
after  the  arrival  of  Doctor  Jewett,  now  on  the  sea. 
This  was  reluctantly  agreed  to.  When  Doctor  Jewett 
came  later  before  the  Executive  Committee,  his  mag- 
nificent faith  and  assured  conviction  of  ultimate  suc- 
cess could  not  be  resisted.  He  said  he  had  strong 
faith  that  God  had  much  people  among  the  Telugus, 
and  if  the  society  declined  to  aid  him,  he  should  go 
back  alone,  there  to  live  and  die.  Such  faith  won 
the  day.  It  always  does.  "  Great  is  thy  faith ;  be 
it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt " ;  "  Little  is  thy  faith ; 
be  it  unto  thee  even  as  thou  wilt,"  are  obverse  sides 
of  the  same  shield. 

Doctor  Clough  Enters  the  Field.  When  the  Jewetts 
returned  they  took  with  them  for  the  Nellore  field 
a  man  of  might,  John  E.  Clough,  as  rugged,  strong, 
and  uncompromising  as  is  the  sound  of  his  name. 
The  legend  goes  that  the  Executive  Committee  was 
not  quite  sure  of  his  qualifications  for  the  place.     He 


io8  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

seemed  a  bit  too  rugged  and  unfinished.  But  when 
one  of  the  members  asked  him,  so  goes  the  story, 
what  he  would  do  if  they  thought  best  not  to  send 
him,  he  rephed  that  he  would  go  anyway,  if  he  had 
to  work  his  passage.  So  he  had  his  way,  and  sailed 
from  Boston,  November  30,  1864. 

Awakening  Among  the  Outcastes.  As,  after  some 
long,  cold  winter,  one  wakes  some  morning  to  breathe 
the  breath  of  spring,  mysterious,  unmistakable,  though 
bluebirds  and  apple  blossoms  are  weeks  away,  so 
the  returned  missionaries  found  evidence  that  the 
seed  long  sown  in  tears  was  soon  to  spring  in  joy. 
The  missionaries,  in  faith  that  reenforcements  would 
be  needed,  sent  urgent  appeals  home  for  two  more 
men.  When  the  break  on  the  field  came,  however, 
it  was  not  in  the  direction  in  which  it  had  been  ex- 
pected or  even  desired.  The  outcastes  began  to  turn 
to  God!  Without  the  pale  of  Hinduism,  shut  out 
from  its  ritual,  denied  the  ministry  of  its  priests  and 
the  consolations  of  its  religion,  are  the  multitudes 
of  the  outcastes  of  India,  "  the  untouchables,"  re- 
garded by  all  the  Hindu  world  as  almost  less  than 
human.  The  law  of  Manu  had  said  regarding  these 
Pariahs  or  outcastes :  "  Their  abode  must  be  out  of 
town.  Their  clothes  must  be  the  mantles  of  the  dead. 
Let  no  man  hold  any  intercourse  with  them."  They 
were  not  allowed  to  draw  water  from  the  village  wells 
frequented  by  the  caste  people,  lest  their  shadows 
should  pollute  them.  They  were  forced  to  yield  the 
street  to  the  caste  people,  and  in  some  sections  of  the 
country    where    caste    prejudice    was    strongest,    the 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  109 

women  of  the  outcastes  were  not  allowed  to  wear  any- 
clothing  on  the  upper  part  of  the  body.  Born  in  filth, 
reared  in  filth,  dying  in  filth,  the  Madigas,  Malas,  and 
Pariahs  passed  their  wretched  lives.  They  were  made 
up  of  the  weavers,  cobblers,  tanners,  fishermen, 
sweepers,  and  farm  laborers.  Even  among  these  poor 
people  caste  held  sway.  Outcastes  whose  income  was 
only  four  dollars  a  month  would  hire  the  family  wash- 
ing done ;  for  so  disgraceful  was  the  dhohi's,  or  wash- 
erman's, work  considered  that  even  the  sweepers 
would  not  eat  with  him  nor  have  any  social  intercourse. 
In  all  India  there  are  about  fifty  millions  of  these  hope- 
less folk,  sometimes  spoken  of  by  high-sounding 
euphemism  as  the  "  depressed  classes." 

The  First  Madiga  Convert.  Now  it  was  the  pur- 
pose of  God  to  show  the  triumphs  of  his  grace  on 
these  feeblest,  most  persecuted,  most  ignorant,  hope- 
less, and  unlovely  people  in  all  India.  The  first  con- 
vert among  these  outcastes  came  while  Doctor  Clough 
was  on  a  visit  to  Ongole  in  the  year  1866.  He  was 
named  Periah,  one  of  the  Madigas.  Although  unable 
to  read  a  word,  he  yet  gave  such  convincing  evidence  of 
his  grasp  of  the  saving  truths  of  Christianity  that, 
without  question,  he  and  his  wife  were  baptized  one 
day,  at  set  of  sun.  Glowing  with  joy,  he  began  to 
go  among  the  outcastes,  from  palem  to  palem.  Three 
native  preachers  from  Nellore  agreed  to  join  him, 
and  were  amazed  at  his  burning  zeal.  Long  before 
daybreak  he  would  have  them  on  the  way.  In  the 
hottest  weather  he  went  with  them,  carrying  a  huge 
jar  of  buttermilk  on  his  head,  so  that  the  preachers 


no  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

might  drink  when  thirsty.  When  the  preachers  re- 
turned to  Nellore,  Hke  the  first  disciples,  they  mar- 
veled, for  two  hundred  outcastcs  were  believing  in 
Christ. 

Providential  that  the  Outcastes  Came  First.  In  no 
way  is  the  guiding  hand  of  God  more  clearly  seen 
than  in  gathering  his  church  in  India  first  from  the 
outcastes.  Not  because  they  are  the  best  material. 
They  are  the  worst,  perhaps.  Nor  because  they  are 
the  most  influential;  they  are  least.  But  if,  after 
the  plans  and  efforts  of  man,  the  missionaries  had 
succeeded  in  building  up  a  church  of  caste  people, 
so  terrible  is  the  bondage  of  caste  in  India  that  it 
would  never  have  been  possible  to  receive  into  the 
same  church  the  outcaste  converts.  This  was  illus- 
trated in  the  early  days  in  Ongole.  A  number  of 
caste  people  had  come  asking  baptism,  but  when  they 
heard  of  the  IMadigas  who  had  been  baptized  in 
Periah's  village,  they  objected  to  being  in  the  same 
church  with  them.  Doctor  Clough  told  them  that  these 
outcastes  were  forty  miles  away,  and  could  not  hurt 
them.  They  seemed  pacified.  But  just  then  twelve 
men,  converts  from  an  outcaste  village,  came  asking 
baptism.  The  missionary  almost  hoped  that  they 
might  fail  in  the  examination,  for  to  admit  them 
seemed  the  ruination  of  the  promising  beginning 
among  the  caste  people.  But  the  outcastes  witnessed 
a  good  confession.  Prudence  said,  "  Do  not  throw 
over  these  people  of  influence  for  these  despised 
Madigas."  What  did  Duty  say?  In  their  dilemma, 
Doctor  and  Mrs.  Clough  went  apart  to  their  rooms  to 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  in 

ask  counsel  of  God.  Each  opened  to  the  same  passage 
of  Scripture,  1  Corinthians  1 :  26-29 :  "  For  you  see 
your  calling,  brethren,  how  that  not  many  wise  men 
after  the  fiesh,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble  are 
called ;  but  God  hath  chosen  the  foolish  things  of 
the  world  to  confound  the  wise ;  and  God  hath  chosen 
the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  things 
which  are  mighty;  and  base  things  of  the  world,  and 
things  which  are  despised  hath  God  chosen,  yea,  and 
things  which  are  not,  to  bring  to  naught  the  things 
that  are:  that  no  flesh  should  glory  in  his  presence." 
As  they  came  from  prayer  each  told  the  other  God's 
answer.  There  was  no  further  question.  The  out- 
castes  were  baptized.  The  caste  people  turned  away, 
saying :  **  If  these  are  received,  we  cannot  enter  your 
church." 

Days  of  Growth.  The  years  between  1867  and  1876 
were  filled  with  hope  and  progress.  New  recruits 
joined  the  mission  staff.  Doctor  and  Mrs.  Downie 
came  in  1873,  and  Rev.  R.  R.  Williams  was  assigned 
to  the  theological  seminary  in  Ramapatnam.  The 
same  year  Mr.  Campbell  became  the  pioneer  in  the 
Deccan.  The  Timpanys  and  McLaurins,  after  excel- 
lent service  in  Ongole,  later  founded  the  Canadian 
Baptist  Telugu  mission  at  Cocanada  and  Akidu, 
farther  north.  The  newly  organized  Woman's  For- 
eign Missionary  Society  of  the  West  sent  out  in  1872 
Miss  Lavinia  Peabody,  the  first  unmarried  woman 
to  join  the  mission.  She  collected  the  pupils  for  a 
girls'  school  in  Ramapatnam.  "  I  shall  begin  my 
school  if  I  have  to  gather  my  pupils  under  a  banyan 


112  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

tree,"  she  wrote.  In  1874  Doctor  Clough  visited 
America,  stirred  up  some  of  the  churches,  and  inci- 
dentally raised  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  endow  the 
theological  seminary  at  Ramapatnam.  Then  sud- 
denly all  the  baptizing,  the  teaching,  the  preaching, 
the  touring,  and  the  organizing  of  schools  was  broken 
off  by  a  terrible  calamity,  the  great  famine  of  1876  to 
1878. 

The  Great  Famine.  This  was  one  of  the  most  ter- 
rible in  the  long  list  of  Indian  famines,  affecting  as 
it  did  a  territory  in  which  lived  fifty-eight  millions 
of  the  people.  The  northeast  monsoon,  the  wind  that 
brings  the  rainy  season,  failed,  then  the  southeast 
monsoon.  Green  things  burned  from  the  face  of  the 
earth.  Grain  merchants  began  to  hoard  their  grain. 
Panic  seized  the  people.  The  cattle  died,  the  streams 
dried  up;  then  came  pestilence,  starvation,  death. 
The  mission  compounds  were  thronged  with  gaunt, 
starving  creatures,  begging  for  food.  The  ears  were 
filled  with  the  wailing  cries  of  children,  the  eyes 
haunted  with  the  sight  of  starving  men.  The  government 
began  relief  work  by  digging  canals  and  building  rail- 
ways, and  established  great  famine  camps.  Mission- 
aries gave  themselves  up  to  relieving  the  sufferers, 
by  means  of  funds  sent  from  America.  Doctor  Clough 
took  a  contract  to  cut  four  miles  of  canal ;  and  on 
this  he  set  the  starving  Christians  in  Ongole  at  work. 
Said  the  British  engineer  in  charge,  "  Of  the  thirty- 
five  miles  built  under  my  direction,  your  portion  is 
the  best."  Missionaries  in  various  districts  were  made 
agents    for    the    distribution    of    the    great    Mansion 


ONGOLE    HIGH    SCHOOL   FOR   BOYS 


RAMAPATXAM    THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  113 

House  Fund,  collected  in  England  for  the  relief  of 
the  famine  sufferers. 

Famine  Orphans  Saved.  Day-nurseries  and  or- 
phanages were  opened.  Mrs.  Downie,  in  Nellore,  fed 
four  hundred  of  the  children  for  seven  months,  at  a 
per  capita  cost  of  two  cents  a  day.  She  made  the 
children  thrive  too.  Many  of  the  orphans  rescued 
in  these  days  of  famine  became  most  valued  leaders 
in  the  Christian  community  later  on.  One  Bible- 
woman  now  working  was  sold  by  her  mother  in  1876 
for  four  annas  (eight  cents),  and  later  rescued  by  the 
missionaries.  The  story  is  told  of  another  Christian 
worker,  that  during  one  of  the  Indian  famines,  her 
parents,  having  no  food,  buried  the  tiny  child  alive 
in  order  to  get  rid  of  her  cries.  She  worked  her  head 
out  of  the  loose  dirt,  and  was  seen  and  rescued  by  a 
policeman  who  brought  her  to  one  of  the  Christian 
orphanages.  Here  she  was  kept  and  educated,  and 
when  grown  married  to  a  native  pastor.  She  reared 
a  family  of  twelve  children,  and  became  herself  one 
of  the  most  influential  women  in  the  Christian  com- 
munity. 

The  Great  Ingathering.  After  the  famine  came  a 
great  ingathering.  While  they  worked  on  the  canal, 
the  Christian  pastors  and  teachers  had  many  oppor- 
tunities, in  the  intervals  of  the  work,  to  speak  of  the 
Christian  faith  to  the  thousands  of  workers  to  whom 
the  canal  furnished  means  of  livelihood.  The  spectacle 
of  Christians  giving  work  alike  to  all,  with  no  dis- 
crimination in  regard  to  caste,  and  with  equal  solici- 
tude for  the  humble  and  the  educated,  made  a  pro- 

H 


114  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

found  impression  upon  the  people.  It  was  new  to 
them  to  see  the  religious  leaders  and  teachers  giving 
themselves  to  the  service  of  humanity.  Their  whole 
idea  of  religious  leaders,  gained  through  their  own, 
the  Brahmans,  had  been  of  those  who  accepted  wor- 
ship from  them,  but  gave  no  ministry  to  them  in  re- 
turn. For  fifteen  months  all  applicants  for  baptism 
were  refused.  Not  until  after  all  work  was  completed, 
and  there  could  be  no  longer  any  financial  motive 
leading  the  people  to  enroll  themselves  as  Christians, 
were  any  candidates  for  baptism  examined  or  re- 
ceived. But  it  was  impossible  longer  to  refuse  the 
people.  They  could  not  be  kept  away.  In  Ongole, 
from  the  middle  of  June  to  the  end  of  December, 
1878,  nine  thousand,  six  hundred  and  six  were  bap- 
tized, making  Ongole  the  largest  Baptist  church  in 
the  world,  with  a  membership  of  over  twelve  thou- 
sand. On  the  third  of  July  two  thousand,  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty-two  were  baptized  by  six  native  pas- 
tors. When  the  missionaries  urged  caution  and  de- 
lay, and  tried  to  send  the  people  back  to  their  vil- 
lages, the  multitude,  one  and  all,  said  to  their  leading 
men  and  preachers :  "  We  do  not  want  any  money. 
We  will  not  ask  you  for  any,  either  directly  or  in- 
directly, now  or  hereafter.  As  we  have  lived  thus 
far  by  our  work,  by  the  blisters  on  our  hands  we  can 
prove  this  to  you,  so  we  will  continue  to  live,  or  if 
we  die  we  shall  die,  but  we  want  you  to  baptize  us." 
Within  ten  years  no  fewer  than  twenty-five  thousand 
converts  were  baptized  on  the  Telugu  field,  most  of 
them  from  the  outcastes.     Such  an  ingathering  from 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  115 

such  a  class  brought  with  it  inevitably  many  serious 
problems.  The  people  were  bankrupt  financially, 
mentally,  and  spiritually.  The  transformation 
wrought  in  two  generations  is  an  evidence  of  the 
power  of  the  gospel  to  uplift  and  transform. 

Work  Begun  in  the  Deccan.  The  year  before  the 
great  famine  began,  the  field  of  missionary  operations 
had  been  extended  into  the  independent  state  of  Hy- 
derabad. This  territory  lying  to  the  north  of  the 
Madras  presidency  contained  some  eleven  million 
people,  a  large  proportion  of  them  speaking  Telugu. 
The  stations  in  this  territory  are  Secunderabad, 
Hanumakonda,  Palmur,  Nalgonda,  Sooriapett,  and 
Jangaon. 

First  Problem:  That  of  Self-Support.  The  first  prob- 
lem was  the  building  up  of  an  organized,  self-propa- 
gating, self-supporting  church.  While  none  of  these 
ends  have  to  this  time  been  fully  realized,  such  prog- 
ress has  been  made  as  no  one  would  have  dared  to 
prophesy  in  1876.  There  are  at  present  one  hundred 
and  thirty-three  organized  churches,  and  seven  hun- 
dred and  forty  meeting-places  where  religious  services 
are  held.  Some  of  these  churches  are  isolated  groups 
of  believers  in  tiny  hamlets;  others  are  large,  well- 
organized,  orderly  bodies,  with  their  own  pastors, 
officers,  Sunday  and  parish  schools,  and  Bible-women. 
The  question  of  self-support  has  been  most  difficult 
of  solution.  The  people  were  poor,  with  a  sodden, 
hopeless  poverty  of  which  we  have  no  conception.  There 
are  more  people  who  lie  down  hungry  in  India  every 
njo-ht  than  live  in  the  United  States.     British  officials 


Ii6  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

have  estimated  that  one-third  of  the  people  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave  never  have  enough  to  eat.  To  be 
always  hungry,  to  earn  a  few  pennies  a  day  when 
one  earns  at  all,  to  be  squeezed  between  the  two 
millstones  of  rent  and  taxation,  to  be  shut  out  from 
economic  betterment  by  the  inexorable  customs  of 
caste,  to  have  the  ever-present  dread  and  the  often 
realized  suffering  of  famine,  are  a  few  of  the  reasons 
that  prevent  Telugu  Christians  from  wholly  support- 
ing their  own  churches.  The  statistics  show  that  out 
of  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  churches  only  twenty- 
two  are  to-day  absolutely  independent  of  any  missionary 
aid. 

Telugu  Liberality.  In  spite  of  difficulties  things  do 
move,  and  self-support  is  being  manfully  and  per- 
sistently sought.  There  are  thousands  of  Telugu 
homes  where  a  handful  of  rice  for  God  is  taken  out 
of  the  portion  that  goes  into  the  family  kettle  at  each 
meal.  There  are  churches  which  have  no  money  to 
bring  to  the  collection,  which  bring  in  their  tithes 
in  good  Old  Testament  fashion:  chickens,  eggs, 
grains,  and  pumpkins  to  adorn  the  collection,  Sunday 
after  Sunday.  The  spirit  of  the  Telugu  evangelists 
is  fine.  One  of  them  is  supporting  himself,  his  wife, 
and  three  children  on  fifteen  rupees  (five  dollars)  per 
month.  He  never  complains,  and  when  the  su])jcct 
was  brought  up  by  a  visiting  American  he  replied : 
"  I  do  not  mind  if  I  have  to  live  like  a  buffalo  so  long 
as  I  may  preach  about  Jesus."  The  children  too 
catch  the  spirit  of  sacrificial  giving.  Many  of  the 
children  are  so  poor  that  they  have  no  clothing  what- 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  117 

ever,  and  bring  to  the  meeting  their  little  collection, 
a  few  grains  of  their  food,  taken  almost  grain  by 
grain  from  their  small  daily  portion,  tied  up  in  a  wee 
bit  of  rag. 

Some  Girl  Heroines,  Mr.  Baker  says  that  the  On- 
gole  church  is  loyally  supported  by  the  schoolgirls, 
most  of  whom  never  have  any  money  to  spend.  When 
the  church  made  an  effort,  recently,  to  increase  its 
receipts,  the  girls  of  the  school  held  a  meeting  to  see 
what  they  could  do.  After  careful  consideration  the 
whole  school  decided  that  as  Sunday  was  the  day  on 
which  there  were  no  hard  lessons  to  learn  or  any 
garden  to  dig,  plenty  of  food  on  that  day  was  not 
so  essential.  They  asked  that  they  might  go  with- 
out the  morning  meal  on  Sunday,  and  give  this  money 
to  their  Lord. 

Seventy  Miles  with  a  Pumpkin,  An  old  man  at 
Gowanda,  thirty-five  miles  north  of  Ongole,  had  a 
blessing  manifestly  from  heaven,  and  a  great  desire 
to  give  something  to  Jesus  took  possession  of  him. 
The  only  suitable  thing  he  had  to  give  was  a  mag- 
nificent pumpkin  he  had  raised  with  great  care  and 
protected  a  long  time  from  thieves.  But  how  was 
he  to  get  it  to  the  Lord?  The  hamlet  had  no  Chris- 
tian teacher  to  tell  him.  "  I  will  take  it  to  the  mis- 
sionary. He  will  know  what  to  do."  In  India  this 
vegetable  is  worth  about  four  cents.  The  old  man 
walked  seventy  miles,  and  one-half  the  distance  car- 
ried on  his  head  a  weight  of  about  thirty  pounds  and 
the  food  for  his  journey,  that  he  might  present  to  the 
Lord  an  acceptable  gift  of  four  cents. 


Ii8  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Self-Support  and  Unselfishness.  It  is  interesting 
to  find  that  in  India  too,  the  shortest  way  to  self- 
support  is  the  long  way  around  the  world.  The 
churches  that  are  doing  most  in  paying  their  own 
expenses  are  those  that  have  been  stirred  with  the 
missionary  passion,  and  are  thinking  not  solely  nor 
chiefly  of  keeping  the  breath  of  life  in  their  own  or- 
ganization, but  rather  of  making  that  organization 
a  power  for  evangelizing  the  world.  The  Telugu 
Baptist  Missionary  Society  is  the  greatest  stimulus 
in  the  church  life  of  India.  Its  work  includes  both 
home  and  foreign  missions.  It  works  among  heathen 
tribes  in  India  and  among  the  Telugu  immigrants  in 
South  Africa. 

First  Telugu  Foreign  Missionary.  It  was  in  1902 
that  John  Rungiah  and  his  wife  offered  themselves 
to  go  as  foreign  missionaries  to  South  Africa  to  labor 
among  the  Telugu  immigrants  at  work  in  the  mines 
and  plantations.  In  1910,  Mr.  B.  C.  Jacob,  a  faithful 
and  able  Telugu  professor  in  the  seminary  at  Rama- 
patnam,  volunteered  to  go  as  a  second  missionary  to 
South  Africa.  The  reflex  influence  of  the  going  of 
these  men  upon  the  home  church  was  quite  as  re- 
markable as  the  good  efl^ected  through  their  work 
as  missionaries  in  the  foreign  field.  For  example, 
the  little  church  at  Hanumakonda,  which  had  given 
fifty-four  rupees  for  its  own  work  and  had  no  outside 
interests,  is  now  able  to  raise  two  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-seven rupees  for  missions  and  self-support,  and 
has  been  stimulated  also  to  pay  two  hundred  and  fifty 
rupees  for  the  education  of  its  children. 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  119 

Second  Problem:    That  of   Industrial   Betterment. 

Closely  connected  with  the  problem  of  self-support 
is  that  of  improving  industrial  conditions.  Because 
the  bulk  of  the  converts  w^ere  from  the  outcastes, 
Christianity  itself  became  an  outcaste  faith,  and  its 
converts  were  subjected  to  severe  persecution.  If 
one  became  a  Christian  he  faced  denial  of  the  right 
to  draw  water  from  the  village  well,  loss  of  trade, 
ostracism,  and  sometimes  starvation  and  death.  The 
industrial  helplessness  of  the  people  has  still  further 
complicated  the  situation.  When  the  majority  of  a 
village  become  Christians,  the  situation  is  somewhat 
easier.  And  it  is  in  these  Christian  Telugu  villages 
where  the  most  striking  transformation  in  the  con- 
dition of  the  people  has  been  wrought.  The  caste 
problem  has  terribly  complicated  matters.  If  a  con- 
vert were  not  originally  from  the  carpenter  class,  it 
was  useless  to  teach  him  carpentry,  as  the  whole 
weight  of  the  carpenter  caste  and  the  cooperation  of 
all  the  other  castes  would  be  thrown  in  the  scale 
to  shut  him  out  from  getting  work  altogether.  The 
great  work  of  the  next  twenty-five  years  will  be  to 
impart  such  industrial  education  as  shall  help  to  raise 
the  economic  status  of  the  people.  What  Tuskegee 
and  Hampton  and  Spellman  Seminary  are  doing  for 
the  colored  people  of  America  must  be  done,  under 
infinitely  harder  conditions,  for  the  outcaste  Telugu 
Christians. 

An  Industrial  Experiment  Station.  Beginnings 
have  already  been  made.  In  1904,  at  Hanumakonda, 
a  committee  of  the  mission  was  appointed  to  study 


I20  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

the  whole  question  of  industrial  education,  especially 
the  establishment  of  a  normal  agricultural  training 
school,  through  which  the  average  farmer  should  be 
taught  to  get  a  better  living.  An  industrial  experi- 
ment station  was  later  organized  in  Ongole,  and  Rev. 
S.  D.  Bawden  sent  out  as  the  first  industrial  mission- 
ary. For  seven  years  he  has  been  studying  the  whole 
problem  and  making  a  number  of  interesting  experi- 
ments. One  of  these  was  to  attempt  to  apply  to 
conditions  in  India  the  principles  of  dry  farming  as 
developed  in  America. 

At  this  same  experiment  station  pumps  to  use  in 
irrigation  were  imported,  with  the  result  that  a 
schoolboy  running  a  pump  could  put  as  much  water 
upon  the  land  in  a  given  time  as  could  two  yokes  of 
bullocks. 

Improved  Looms  Needed.  Another  plan  was  con- 
sidered by  which  the  large  Christian  community  of 
the  weaver-caste  might  be  shown  how  to  lift  itself 
into  competence  and  independence.  Under  the 
present  conditions  the  weavers  are  at  the  mercy  of 
the  Sudras  and  local  merchants,  and  the  rates  for 
weaving  are  so  low  that  it  is  almost  impossible  for 
them,  under  present  methods  of  work,  to  make  a  bare 
living.  Improved  looms  are  to  be  had ;  and  improved 
methods  of  carding  and  spinning  the  cotton,  and  in 
winding  and  sizing  the  warp,  might  be  introduced. 
Says  the  report:  "The  American  who  is  a  skilled 
weaver,  with  sympathy  and  patience,  who  will  bring 
consecrated  ingenuity  to  bear  upon  the  task  of  so 
organizing  the  weavers  in  their  villages  as  to  reduce 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  121 

the  cost  of  production  by  a  very  little,  will  be  able 
to  render  a  signal  service  to  the  advancement  of  self- 
support  in  our  Christian  churches." 

The  Bapatla  Cooperative  Association.  Mr.  Thoms- 
sen,  of  Bapatla,  writes  that  he  has  noticed  in  his 
thirty  years  of  ministry  that  poor  Christians  are,  as 
a  rule,  poor  Christians;  for  grinding  poverty  means 
slavery,  and  it  is  almost  impossible  for  a  desperately 
poor  man  to  be  honest,  truthful,  and  God-fearing. 
He  believes  that  the  basis  of  all  effective  industrial 
work  must  be  cooperation.  In  1909  he  started  at 
Bapatla  the  Cooperative  Association,  Limited,  The 
government  gave  a  tract  of  valuable  land  on  which 
the  shares,  valued  at  five  rupees,  could  be  entirely 
paid  for  in  ten  years.  Caste  people  and  Moslems, 
as  well  as  Christians,  became  members  of  the  asso- 
ciation. Every  cultivator  of  the  land  belonged  to 
the  association.  He  received  loans  for  the  cultivation 
of  the  association's  lands,  without  interest,  and  every- 
thing was  done  to  help  the  poor  member  to  become 
well-to-do.  During  the  year  1910  great  strides  for- 
ward were  made.  The  dumping-ground  of  Bapatla 
was  abolished,  and  the  association  converted  the 
refuse  and  sweepings  into  a  valuable  fertilizer.  A 
swamp  near  the  town  was  drained  and  protected 
against  floods.  This  was  the  first  land  association 
of  this  kind  ever  established  in  India.  It  has  at- 
tracted favorable  comment  and  aid  from  the  govern- 
ment, and  demonstrated  that  mission  industries,  if 
they  are  to  be  successful,  must  be  carried  on  in 
cooperation  with  the  people. 


122  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Forestry  at  Donakonda.  At  Donakonda  the  school- 
boys have  been  used  to  plant  the  big  compound  with 
five  thousand  trees.  While  these  are  growing,  hay, 
fire-wood,  fodder,  gum  arabic,  and  acacia  seed  can  be 
raised  so  as  nearly  to  pay  for  the  cost  of  the  planta- 
tion. In  a  few  years  the  products  from  the  trees 
will  be  profitable.  The  missionaries  at  Donakonda 
are  of  the  opinion  that  forestry  is  the  best  way  to 
utilize  big  compounds,  where  the  soil  is  too  poor  for 
intensive  farming. 

Dairying  and  Gardening.  Mrs.  Curtis  has  demon- 
strated at  Donakonda  the  possibilities  of  dairy  farm- 
ing on  American  lines.  It  remains  for  some  conse- 
crated dairyman  with  a  big  fund  of  knowledge, 
adaptation,  grit,  and  common  sense  to  demonstrate 
on  a  larger  scale  what  can  be  done  for  the  uplift  of 
the  community  by  the  introduction  of  better  dairy 
methods. 

Industries  at  Ongole.  At  Ongole  Miss  Dessa  was 
the  first  to  lend  a  hand  to  industrial  education.  For 
years  the  boys  in  her  school  had  the  best  vegetable 
and  flower  gardens  in  the  district.  They  raised  last 
year  twenty-six  kinds  of  fruits  and  vegetables  and 
paid  all  their  school  tuition-fees  with  the  profits. 
These  oriental  boys  do  not  regard  drawn-thread  and 
1)ead  work  as  girls'  occupations,  but  do  skilled  and 
beautiful  work.  All  the  senior  boys  passed  a  recent 
government  examination.  The  boys'  earnings  enabled 
them  to  support  a  native  preacher,  run  two  Christian 
Endeavor  Societies,  and  have  a  balance  of  seventy- 
two  rupees  at  the  end  of  the  year. 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  123 

Miss  Evans  is  requiring  the  girls  in  her  school,  in 
Ongole,  in  a  similar  way,  to  work  out  their  fees  by 
gardening.  She  has  had  the  whole  garden  dug  out  to 
the  depth  of  a  foot  and  good  soil  put  in.  Fertilizer 
has  been  furnished,  from  the  school  sanitation  sys- 
tem, following  scientific  Japanese  methods,  and  each 
girl  from  her  garden-plot  has  had  vegetables,  grass, 
and  fruit  to  sell.  In  addition,  she  teaches  cotton- 
ginning,  thread-making,  crochet,  knitting,  and  plain 
sewing. 

Hardships  at  Kurnool.  In  Kurnool  the  mission  has 
helped  native  Christians  secure  about  nine  hundred 
acres  of  land  from  the  government,  on  condition  that 
they  meet  certain  requirements.  There  have  been 
found  great  difficulties,  for  the  land  is  poor,  the  people 
poorer,  without  tools  or  skill.  The  Sudra  neighbors 
who  supply  cattle  and  tools  with  which  to  work  the 
impoverished  little  patches  of  land  take  half  the  crop 
as  rent,  although  the  entire  crop  is  barely  sufficient 
for  livelihood. 

A  Model  Farm  Needed.  At  Kurnool  too,  the  mis- 
sionaries long  for  an  expert  agricultural  missionary. 

He  should  establish  families  on  these  lands  wher- 
ever possible.  A  motorcycle  would  make  it  possible 
for  him  to  reach  in  a  few  hours  the  most  distant  farm. 
The  chief  object  should  be  to  bring  these  farms  to  a 
high  state  of  cultivation.  The  effect  of  such  a  plan 
would  do  more  than  simply  raise  a  few  families  out 
of  poverty.  India  is  now  on  the  threshold  of  great 
advance  along  agricultural  lines.  We  should  be  add- 
ing our  mite  toward  raising  the  depressed  classes. 
We  have  the  land,  we  have  the  people  willing  to  work 


124  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

these  lands.  Shall  we  assist  them  in  the  manner  in- 
dicated? The  opportunity  of  an  agricultural  mission- 
ary for  doing  good  would  be  second  to  none  in  the 
mission  field.  His  work  on  the  land  would  bring  him 
into  intimate  contact  with  the  people. 

Third  Problem:  Caste.  Greater  even  than  the  in- 
dustrial problem  has  been  that  of  caste.  Wherever 
these  poor  Christian  people  have  tried  to  rise,  they 
have  met  the  solid  opposition  of  the  privileged  classes, 
backed  by  the  teaching  of  a  religion  which  has  built 
caste  as  the  very  corner-stone  of  its  existence.  Human 
nature  in  India  is  not  so  diflferent  from  that  in  Amer- 
ica that  the  caste  people  have  given  up  without  a 
struggle  any  of  their  old  privileges. 

Evidences  of  Caste  Weakening.  But  caste  itself, 
the  greatest  obstacle  to  the  Christianization  of  India, 
is  being  slowly  undermined.  Cracks  in  its  hard  sur- 
face are  already  evident.  One  morning  a  little  Madiga 
girl  came  into  the  school  at  Cumbum  and  asked  that 
she  might  enroll  in  the  school.  Mr.  Newcomb  put 
his  arm  around  her  and  said,  "All  right."  After  the 
missionary  had  left  the  room,  the  caste  girls  said  to 
the  native  teacher,  "  How  can  our  missionary  come 
near  us  again  after  touching  that  little  outcaste  girl?" 
The  teacher  replied,  "  That  is  how  Jesus  loves  every 
one,  whether  they  have  caste  or  not.  You  all  love 
me  very  much,  but  I  was  a  Madiga  like  that  little 
girl  when  the  missionary  took  me  into  school,  and 
now  I  am  your  teacher." 

Community  Celebration  of  Coronation.  Perhaps 
the    greatest    evidences    of    the    weakening    of    caste 


INDIAN    CHRISTIAN    CONVERTS   FROM    THREE   CASTES 


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PREACHING   TO   A    VILLAGE   AUDIENCE   IN    SOUTH    INDIA 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  125 

prejudices  were  given  at  the  time  of  the  recent  cor- 
onation festivities.  At  Ongole,  the  temple  umbrella, 
an  exceedingly  sacred  object  which  is  held  over  the 
gods  when  they  ride  out  to  take  an  airing,  was  lent 
by  the  Hindu  community  to  be  held  over  the  pictures 
of  the  Emperor  and  Empress  of  India,  carried  in  Mis- 
sionary Baker's  American  carriage.  The  Christian 
schoolboys  and  girls,  drawn  for  the  most  part  from 
the  outcaste  portion  of  the  community,  received 
medals  given  by  the  Brahman  district  magistrate's 
own  hand.  In  many  places  Hindus,  Moslems,  and 
Christians  worked  on  the  same  committees  in  ar- 
ranging for  the  coronation  festivities.  In  Kandukuru 
one  of  the  features  of  the  procession  was  the  singing 
of  songs  by  the  school  children.  It  was  noticeable 
that  the  songs  of  the  Christian  school  children  elicited 
the  most  applause.  Even  the  orthodox  Hindus  applauded. 
Opportunity  in  Mass  Movements  Among  the  Out- 
castes.  The  Bishop  of  Madras  believes  that  the 
greatest  opportunity  before  the  Christian  church  in 
India  to-day  is  in  the  ingathering  of  great  masses 
of  the  outcaste  people.  Hinduism  has  had  no  place 
for  them,  no  part  in  her  ritual,  no  ministration  from 
her  priests,  no  hope  for  the  future.  In  Christianity 
for  the  first  time  they  realize  their  manhood.  The 
bishop  believes  that  within  the  next  generation  thirty 
millions  of  this  people  will  be  perfectly  accessible  to 
the  work  of  Christian  missions.  No  churches  are  better 
situated  than  are  the  Baptist  for  prosecuting  a  cou- 
rageous evangelistic,  educational,  and  medical  cam- 
paign  among  the  outcaste  peoples   of   South    India. 


126  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

They  already  have  the  largest  Christian  community  as  a 
basis.  They  have  behind  them  seventy-five  years  of 
work,  a  fine  system  of  common  schools,  a  theological  sem- 
inary, and  training  schools.  All  that  is  needed  is  the 
men  and  money  for  prosecuting  the  work  on  a  scale 
adequate  to  the  opportunities. 

Fourth  Problem:  Medical  Missions.  The  medical 
service  has  been  proved  to  be  of  inestimable  value 
as  an  evangelizing  agency.  The  ordinary  evangelist 
has  to  go  to  a  heathen.  The  medical  evangelist  has 
the  heathen  come  to  him.  The  records  of  the  hospital 
at  Hanumakonda  in  1910  show  that  patients  came 
from  five  hundred  and  twenty-nine  villages.  Among 
the  patients  were  five  thousand,  five  hundred  and 
twenty-eight  Hindus,  two  thousand,  two  hundred  and 
forty  Moslems,  nine  hundred  and  ninety-five  Chris- 
tians, six  hundred  and  sixty-five  outcaste  Hindus, 
forty  Parsees,  forty-eight  Europeans  and  Eurasians. 
To  every  one  of  these  the  gospel  was  explained  in 
word  and  song,  and  illustrated  in  lovely  service. 

Medical  Missions  in  Social  Service.  Medical  mis- 
sionaries are  valuable  as  a  means  of  social  service. 
Dirt,  disease,  and  death  are  three  foes  which  war 
against  Christianity.  A  hospital  is  equipped  to  fight 
all  three.  The  auxiliary  work  done  in  a  Christian 
hospital  in  teaching  sanitation,  banishing  cruel  treat- 
ment of  disease,  preventing  or  stamping  out  epi- 
demics, and  saving  life  cannot  be  overestimated.  It 
is  good  and  worth  while  apart  from  any  religious 
value.  Sixty-two  per  cent  of  those  dying  in  Calcutta  re- 
ceived in  1909  no  medical  attention  of  any  kind. 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  127 

Every  hospital  is  an  emancipator  of  mothers  from  the 
frightful  and  needless  suffering  in  childbirth  due  to 
native  malpractice.  The  sacrifice  of  infant  life  in 
India  is  perhaps  unequaled  in  any  other  country  of 
the  world.  The  Inspector  General  of  Civil  Hospitals 
in  Bengal  states,  in  his  last  report,  that  to  supply  the 
rural  districts  with  the  minimum  number  of  dispen- 
saries, absolutely  necessary,  agencies  must  be  multi- 
plied forty  times. 

Superior  Health  of  Christian  Community.  The  hos- 
pital also  helps  to  fight  the  plague,  and  to  teach  the 
poor  people  how  to  fight  it.  The  Christian  hospitals 
of  India  have  been  so  successful  in  this  that  an  ap- 
preciable effect  has  been  made  on  the  health  of  the 
Christian  community.  During  the  visitation  of  the 
plague  in  1898  the  native  Christians  followed  the 
simple  directions  in  regard  to  sanitation  given  them 
by  medical  missionaries,  with  the  result  that  they 
had  almost  complete  immunity  from  the  plague.  In 
Bombay,  out  of  fifteen  hundred  native  Christians, 
only  six  were  attacked,  although  exposed  to  great 
risks  because  of  their  unselfish  m.inistry  to  the  sick. 

Scientific  Value  of  Medical  Missions.  Medical  mis- 
sionaries make  discoveries  of  great  scientific  value. 
One  such  is  reported  in  the  practice  of  the  hospital 
in  Palmur.  An  antidote  for  the  deadly  bite  of  the 
cobra  has  been  found  in  permanganate  of  potash. 
After  giving  a  number  of  examples  in  which  life  has 
been  saved  by  this  drug,  Mr.  Chute  says :  "  To  us 
the  bite  of  the  cobra  has  lost  its  terror.  In  no  case 
where  permanganate  of  potash  has  been  applied  has 


128  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

the  patient  died  after  being  bitten  by  the  cobra.  The 
remedy  is  also  specific  for  the  sting  of  the  scorpion, 
and  I  believe  that  it  may  yet  prove  a  specific  for  the 
bite  of  the  mad  dog.  The  only  case  in  which  we  have 
known  it  to  be  used  for  this  purpose  has  been  followed 
by  no  bad  symptoms." 

Evidential  Value  of  Medical  Missions.  The  med- 
ical missions  are  following  in  the  path  of  the  Great 
Physician.  There  is  no  surer  way  to  incarnate  the 
spirit  of  Jesus  than  by  ministering  to  the  suffering. 
As  of  old  the  people  see  the  lame  walk,  the  blind 
receive  sight,  the  sick  healed.  When  Doctor  Stait, 
alone,  for  months  bore  the  burden  of  caring  for  the 
sufferers  through  a  violent  epidemic  of  typho-malarial 
fever,  she  did  more  to  translate  the  gospel  to  the 
people  of  India  than  she  could  have  done  through 
years  of  preaching.  Night  and  day  she  and  her  band 
of  Christian  workers  stood  at  their  post.  In  many 
homes  every  member  of  the  family  was  ill,  and  when 
brought  in  on  cots  to  the  hospital,  they  had  received 
no  care  or  bathing  for  weeks.  Her  loving  hands 
washed,  cleaned,  and  wrapped  the  poor  fever-stricken 
bodies  in  clean,  cool  clothes.  After  months  of  cease- 
less toil,  day  and  night,  the  brave  doctor,  who  had 
been  left  to  face  alone  this  deadly  epidemic,  was  her- 
self stricken  with  the  disease  and  lay  ill  for  many 
weary  and  anxious  weeks.  When,  upon  her  recovery, 
she  left  for  her  furlough,  a  large  meeting  of  non- 
Christians  was  held,  and  an  address  was  read  by  a 
prominent  government  official,  in  which  he  said :  "  We 
hope  that  you,  dear  madam,  will  carry  with  you  the 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  129 

esteem,  love,  affection,  and  gratitude  of  one  and  all 
of  us  without  exception.  You  are  loved  by  every 
Hindu,  Mohammedan,  and  Christian  resident  in 
Udayagiri." 

Needs  of  Medical  Missions  among  the  Telugus. 
The  needs  of  the  medical  branch  are  many.  For  the' 
most  part  the  hospitals  have  been  manned  by  women, 
and  perhaps  this  is  wise.  The  women  of  India  are 
the  most  needy,  destitute,  suffering,  and  oppressed 
class  in  the  world.  It  is  abhorrent  to  all  their  ideals 
to  employ  men  as  physicians.  If  they  are  reached 
and  helped  it  must  be  by  the  work  of  consecrated 
women  physicians.  Mrs.  Heinrichs  and  Mrs.  Elmore 
have  both  urged  the  strategic  value  of  Ramapatnam 
in  influencing  the  whole  Telugu  field  through  the 
medical  training  of  the  wives  of  the  pastors  during 
their  years  of  residence  at  the  Ramapatnam  Theolog- 
ical Seminary.  The  trustees  of  the  seminary  have 
recently  taken  favorable  action  in  this  matter  in  pro- 
viding for  the  beginnings  of  a  course  in  medical  train- 
ing and  practical  midwifery.  The  work  that  these 
pastors'  wives,  thus  instructed,  can  do  in  raising  the 
standards  of  health  and  hygiene  in  their  villages  is 
simply  incalculable. 

The  Babies'  Doctor.  At  Nellore  is  located  the  hos- 
pital for  women  and  children  whose  physician.  Doc- 
tor Degenring,  is  called  the  "  Babies'  Doctor."  This  is 
because  her  salary  is  raised  by  the  offerings  of  the 
tiny  tots  in  the  Cradle  Rolls.  Each  Baptist  mother 
of  a  baby  or  tiny  child  is  asked  to  pay  ten  cents  each 
year  to  make  her  little  one  a  member  of  the  Cradle 
I 


130  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Roll.  If  only  all  did  this  there  might  be  a  "  babies' 
doctor  "  in  every  other  foreign  mission  as  well  as  in 
Nellore.  A  woman  physician  is  greatly  needed  in 
Palmur.  Why  cannot  one  result  of  this  centennial 
study  be  that  enough  little  ones  join  the  Cradle  Roll 
to  supply  two  doctors  for  the  babies  of  India? 

Fifth  Problem:  Education.  The  Telugu  schools 
may  be  considered  as  an  achievement  or  as  a  problem. 
It  is  gratifying  to  enumerate  the  Normal  School  at 
Bapatla,  the  Boys'  High  School  and  Girls'  High 
School  at  Nellore,  the  High  Schools  at  Ongole  and 
Kurnool,  the  score  of  station  boarding-schools,  the 
six  hundred  elementary  and  village  schools.  With 
greater  fruitfulness,  however,  we  may  consider  their 
difficulties  and  problems ;  for  in  India  all  educational 
work  is  entering  upon  a  period  of  testing  and  read- 
justment. The  government  influence  has  weighted 
the  academic  ideal  in  education  so  heavily  that  all 
schools  have  had  to  conform  more  or  less  closely  to 
English  standards.  The  government  institutions  have 
fitted  men  for  clerical,  government,  or  professional 
life,  by  the  severe  academic  training  imported  from 
England,  and  applied  with  little  adaptation  to  India's 
needs.  The  result  has  been  a  large  body  of  men  whose 
training  leads  them  to  despise  manual  labor,  and 
whose  economic  needs  make  them  centers  of  dissatis- 
faction. 

Agricultural  Education.  To-day  a  new  spirit  is 
stirring  in  India.  It  is  realized  that  education  ought 
not  to  mean  training  apart  from  environment.  With 
eighty   per  cent    of    her   population    agricultural,    India 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  131 

needs  that  the  village  schools  be  schools  of  agricul- 
ture. The  work  which  Canada  and  Japan  are  doing 
through  their  rural  schools  to  transform  rural  life 
must  be  done  for  the  Indian  village  community. 

Says  Rev.  W.  H.  HoUister,  of  Kolar,  Mysore  Prov- 
ince, India: 

I  believe  it  possible  to  broadcast  a  new  type  of  vil- 
lage schools  all  over  India,  each  school  having  farm 
and  garden-plots  where  boys  and  girls  will  be  taught 
the  best  methods  of  agriculture,  horticulture,  and  stock- 
raising,  and  with  unpretentious  workshops  in  which  to 
teach  handicrafts  suited  to  rural  lives. 

For  some  time  government  grants  to  village  schools 
have  been  decreasing.  This  may  not  be  such  a 
tragedy,  but  rather  a  first-class  opportunity,  if  only 
the  funds  can  be  furnished  to  the  missionaries  to 
make  experiments  which  were  impossible  as  long  as 
the  rigid  academic  standard  was  the  price  of  the  gov- 
ernment grant.  A  type  of  schoolmaster  can  be  trained 
who  shall  not  regard  his  function  to  be  simply  the 
hearing  of  recitations,  or  the  preparation  of  pupils 
for  academic  examinations  so  that  "  good  marks  "  can 
be  secured;  but  who  shall  aim  to  make  the  school 
an  expression  of  community  life  and  an  agency  for 
community  betterment. 

B.    THE  BENGAL-ORISSA  MISSION 

The  vote  of  the  Free  Baptists,  taken  at  their  Gen- 
eral Conference  in  July,  1910,  to  cooperate  with  the 
Baptists  of  the  Northern  Baptist  Convention  in  mis- 


132  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

sion  work,  marked  the  achievement  of  the  most  sig- 
nificant advance  in  Baptist  polity  made  during  the 
opening  years  of  the  twentieth  century.  There  was 
a  poetic  justice  in  the  union  of  the  two  bodies  in  mis' 
sionary  work,  since  the  history  of  their  Indian  mis- 
sions had  been  intertwined  at  the  very  beginning. 

An  Apostolic  Letter.  A  remarkable  chain  of  cir- 
cumstances linked  the  Baptists  of  England  and 
America  together  in  the  founding  of  the  Bengal  Mis- 
sion. Rev.  James  Colman  and  his  wife  were  among 
the  first  party  of  Baptist  missionaries  who  sailed  out 
of  Boston  harbor  in  1817.  When  the  Burman  war 
began  they  were  exiled  to  Calcutta,  where  he  died, 
July  4,  1822.  Mrs.  Colman,  who  had  become  super- 
intendent of  the  schools  for  girls,  with  over  two  hun- 
dred pupils  enrolled,  was  later  married  to  Rev.  Amos 
Sutton,  a  missionary  of  the  English  Baptists.  It  was 
because  of  a  suggestion  of  his  wife  that  a  letter  was 
addressed  by  Amos  Sutton  to  the  Free  Baptists  of 
America  setting  forth  the  great  needs  of  the  field, 
and  asking  their  cooperation.  Since  Mrs.  Sutton 
could  not  remember  the  address  of  the  "  Morning  Star," 
the  organ  of  the  American  Free  Baptists,  this  letter 
was  pigeon-holed  for  several  months  and  forgotten. 
One  day  a  package  came  to  Mr.  Sutton  from  England. 
One  of  its  wrappings  proved  to  be  an  old  copy  of 
the  "  Morning  Star."  The  letter  was  sent  to  America 
and  printed  in  the  "  Morning  Star,"  April  13,  1832. 
As  God  had  used  Judson's  appeal  to  rouse  the  Bap- 
tists, he  now  used  this  letter  to  summon  the  Free 
Baptists  into  missionary  activity.     Two  years  later 


CHURCH   AND   CONGREGATION    AT  BHIMPOEE 


SINCLAIR   ORPHANAGE   AT   BALASORE 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  133 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sutton  came  to  America  and  did  a 
wonderful  work  among  the  churches.  It  was  through 
the  appeals  of  Air.  Sutton  that  the  Baptists  decided 
to  begin  mission  work  among  the  Telugus.  When 
the  Suttons  returned  to  India  in  1835  they  took  with 
them  not  only  the  first  missionaries  of  the  Free  Bap- 
tists, Rev.  and  Mrs.  Jeremiah  Phillips  and  Rev.  and 
Mrs.  Eli  Noyes,  but  also  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Samuel  S. 
Day,  the  founders  of  the  Lone  Star  Mission.  After 
seventy-five  years  of  separate  existence  these  two 
missions  were  brought  together  under  the  manage- 
ment of  the  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  So- 
ciety in  1910. 

The  Field.  The  field  selected  by  the  Free  Baptists 
for  their  mission  stretches  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles 
along  the  Bay  of  Bengal  to  the  southwest  of  Calcutta. 
Through  it  runs  the  old  pilgrim  road  trodden  by  mil- 
lions of  pilgrims  on  their  way  down  from  the  north 
through  Midnapore,  Jellasore,  and  Balasore  to  the 
sacred  cities  of  the  south.  There  are  four  millions 
of  people  living  in  the  closely  scattered  villages  of 
the  Bengal  and  Orissa  Provinces  in  which  the  mission 
is  located.  Work  is  done  chiefly  in  the  Bengali  and 
Oriya  languages,  though  Santali,  Hindustani,  and 
Telugu  are  also  spoken.  While  most  of  the  people 
are  Hindus,  there  are  seventy-five  thousand  Moslems 
in  the  cities.  The  aboriginal  Santals  number  about 
two  hundred  thousand. 

Varieties  o£  Work.  The  pioneers  began  with  street 
preaching  and  touring  in  the  country  districts.  As 
Christians  were  gathered  the  work  of  education  and 


134  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

training  began.  The  Boys'  High  School  at  Balasore, 
the  Phillips  Bible  School,  and  the  Bible-woman's 
Training  School  at  Micfnapore,  with  one  hundred  vil- 
lage schools,  are  laying  the  basis  of  a  Christian  com- 
munity. Industrial  education  has  received  successful 
emphasis.  At  Balasore  there  are  sixty  boys  in  the 
industrial  school.  Weaving  is  taught  so  successfully 
that  the  school  sells  enough  cloth  to  maintain  itself. 
It  received  the  gold  medal  given  by  the  government 
recently  for  the  best  display  of  cloth  at  the  Balasore 
district  industrial  exhibition.  A  successful  lace  in- 
dustry is  maintained  by  Mrs.  Kennan  at  Bhimpore. 
Medical  missions  have  taken  a  prominent  place.  One 
of  the  features  of  the  mission  has  been  the  orphan- 
ages for  boys  and  girls  at  Balasore,  Bhimpore,  and 
Santipore.  Many  of  the  leading  Christian  v^rorkers 
have  been  from  among  these  orphans. 

The  Santals.  The  Free  Baptists  share  with  other 
Baptist  brethren  a  predilection  for  work  among 
primitive  people.  The  Santals,  like  the  Karens,  have 
responded  in  a  remarkable  way  to  the  preaching  of 
the  gospel.  There  is  no  brighter  page  in  the  history 
of  the  mission  than  that  of  the  transformation  effected 
in  Santal  villages  by  the  entrance  of  Christianity. 

Converts.  There  have  been  no  mass  movements  in 
the  Bengal-Orissa  Mission.  The  converts  have  been 
won  individually,  a  good  proportion  of  them  from 
the  caste  people.  Hence  the  influence  of  the  Christian 
community  is  very  marked  in  comparison  with  its 
numbers.  There  are  fifteen  hundred  communicants 
and   four   thousand   children   in   the   Sunday-schools. 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OF  ASIA  135 

The  mission  has  been  notable  in  the  number  of  strong 
Christian  workers  which  it  has  developed.  Some  of 
the  native  preachers  have  proved  competent  to  direct 
the  work  of  a  whole  station. 


Facts  About  India 

Population    (census   of   1911) 315,000,000 

Hindus     217,580,000 

Mohammedans    66,620,000 

Christians    3,870,000 

Christian  increase  in  ten  years ■>>?>% 

Hindu  increase  in  ten  years 5% 

Increase  of  Catholic  Christians 24% 

Increase  of  Protestant  Christians    A^V/fo 

Increase  of  Syrian  Christians  27% 

Christian  population  of  India  from  1891  to  1901  increased 
twenty  times  as  fast  as  the  population. 

Medical  missionaries  number 404 

Total  missionary  force  numbers 5,200 

Joseph  Cook  called  India  "  The  Rudder  of  Asia." 

"  Less  than  one  per  cent  of  children  of  school  age  are  in 
school."—/.  R.  Mott. 

India  feeds  and  cares  for  5,000,000  religious  mendicants. 

Indian  Christians,  out  of  their  deep  poverty,  contribute  one 
dollar  per  capita,  per  annum. 

Average  income  of  Christian  family  is  Rs.  5,  or  one  dollar  and 
sixty-six  cents  per  month. 

British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  has  issued  17,500,000  copies 
of  the  Scriptures  in  Indian  languages. 

Total  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  in  India,  Burma,  and 
Ceylon  for  191 1  equals   1,009,008. 

Growth  of  circulation  in  ten  years,  77  per  cent. 


136  FOLLOWING  THE  SUiNRlSE 

Baptist  Educational  Institutions  in  South  India 

Ramapatnam   Theological   Seminary,   Ramapatnam,   South   India. 

Rev.  J.  llcinrichs,  president;  Rev.  W.  T.  Elmore,  and  native 

faculty. 
A  spacious  and  beautiful  wooded  compound  at  Ramapatnam 
by  the  sea  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Telugu  Mission,  and 
here  the  seminary  was  established  in  1872.  Not  only  the  young 
men,  but  also  their  wives,  are  educated  here,  and  some  of  the 
Telugu  women  have  proved  brilliant  students  in  the  highest 
classes.     The  students  number  about   100. 

Bapatla  Normal  Training  School,  Bapatia,  South  India.     Under 
management  of  Rev.  G.  N.  Thomssen. 

The  great  need  among  the  Christian  hamlets  of  South  India 
is  for  teacher-pastors,  and  such  the  normal  school  supplies  for 
all  the  mission.  It  has  a  large  "  practice  school."  It  needs  new 
buildings. 

American  Baptist   Mission   High   School,   Ongole,   South   India. 
L.  E.  Martin,  A.  M.,  principal;  and  native  faculty. 

Ongole  is  one  of  our  largest  mission  centers  in  South  India. 
About  325  boys  attend  the  school,  many  of  them  Hindus  and 
Mohammedans. 

American  Baptist   Mission   High   School,   Nellorc,   South   India. 
Rev.  L.  C.  Smith,  principal. 

This  has  a  high  standing  among  the  schools  of  Madras 
Presidency  and  continues  to  attract  many  Hindus,  in  spite  of 
bitter  protests  against  its  pronounced  Christian  character.  About 
300  boys  attend.     A  new  Iniilding  has  been  erected. 

Coles  Memorial  High  School,  Kurnool,  South  India.    Rev.  Henry 
Huizinga,  Ph.  D..  principal. 

The  new  building  for  the  high  school  is  one  of  the  finest 
in  South  India. 


INDIA,  THE  RUDDER  OE  ASIA  137 

Ncllore  Girls'  High  School,  Ncllorc,  South  India.     Miss  Ella  M. 
Draper. 

Only  high-school  work  is  done  in  this  school,  where  the  ma- 
jority of  the  girls  arc  from  the  non-caste  peoples. 


Baptist  Educational  Institutions  in  Bengal-Orissa 

Phillips  Bible  School  at  Midnapore. 

This  is  a  training  school  for  native  workers.  Ninety-five  per 
cent  of  workers  in  the  Bengal-Orissa  Mission  are  graduates  of 
this   school. 

Boys'  High  School  at  Balasore.  Rev.  G.  H.  Hamlen,  principal. 
This  school,  which  has  an  enrolment  of  258,  is  rapidly  enlar- 
ging its  work,  is  receiving  aid  from  the  government,  and  is  more 
and  more  chosen  by  non-Christian  parents  as  a  school  for  their 
sons.  Additional  rooms  and  a  chapel  constitute  the  imperative 
needs  at  the  present  time. 


Bibliography 

I.  Telugus 

Ware,  Christian  Missions  in  the  Telugu  Country.     London,  So- 
ciety for  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  1912. 

Downie,  History  of  the  Telugu  Mission.    Philadelphia,  American 
Baptist  Publication  Society,  1893. 

Clough,  From  Darkness  to  Light.    Boston,  1S82. 
A  story  of  the  Telugu  awakening. 

Mott,  Decisive  Hour  of  Christian  Missions.    New  York.     Student 
Volunteer   Movement,    1910. 

A   critical  study   of  movements   and    forces    in    non-Christian 

world.     See  under  "  India "  in  index. 

Missions   in  South   India.     Boston,    American    Baptist   Foreign 

Mission  Society. 


138  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Merriani,  History  of  American  Bat'tist  Missions.     Chapter  XIV. 
Year   Book   of   Missions   in   India,   Dur)na,   and   Ceylon.      New 
York,   Missionary  Education   Movement,   1912. 
An    indispensable    source    for    knowledge    of    many    features 
described  in  this  chapter. 
Chamberlain,  The  Kingdom  in  India.     New  York,  Rcvcll,   1908. 

2.  Bengal-Orissa  Mission 

Griffin,  India  and  Daily  Life  in  Bengal.     Philadelphia,  American 

Baptist    Publication   Society,    1912. 
Stacy,  In  the  Path  of  Light.     Chapters  XI,  XII.     New   York, 

Revell,  1895. 
Free  Baptist  Cyclopedia.     1889. 

Good  articles  touching  on  persons  and  history  of  this  mission. 
Missions  in  Bengal.    Boston,  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission 

Society,  1912. 


/ 'Gharbapta 


BENGAL 

MAP    SnO"VVING   THE 

STATIONS 

OF  THE 

AMERICAN    BAPTIST 

rOBEIGN  MISSION  SOCIETY 

Stations  of  A.B.F.n.S.     BalasofB 

Railroads  ■ 

Scale  of  Miles 


PTTERSiENGR^  ..BOSTON 


XoDgitude  Eut  from  Qreenwlcli 


THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA 


106  LoD^tudo      C 


110    Eut  O      from      115  Qreetiwich     £ 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA 

China's  Giant  Bulk.  The  fact  bulking  biggest  in 
the  world  to-day  is  China.  Her  sheer  physical  mass  is 
overwhelming.  Says  Doctor  Gracey :  "  Lay  all  Europe 
on  China,  and  you  will  have  thirteen  hundred  square 
miles  uncovered.  Lay  China  on  the  United  States  and 
it  will  overrun  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  four  degrees  into 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  Reverse  the  experiment  and  lay  the 
United  States,  including  Alaska,  on  China,  and  you  may 
gem  the  edges  with  a  half-dozen  Great  Britains  and  Ire- 
lands.  Change  China  from  its  present  shape  to  that  of 
a  belt  of  land  a  mile  wide,  and  there  would  be  room  for 
a  walking  match,  from  end  to  end,  of  thirty  miles  a  day 
continued  for  more  than  four  and  a  half  centuries." 
China's  numbers  are  bewildering.  Here,  under  one  gov- 
ernment, are  gathered  together  four  hundred  and  thirty 
millions  of  people,  nearly  one-fourth  of  the  entire  popu- 
lation of  the  globe.  When  it  is  considered  that  half  the 
world  lives  in  Asia,  and  of  the  population  of  Asia  forty- 
six  per  cent  is  included  in  India  and  China,  one  gets  a 
dim  conception  of  the  enormous  numbers  of  the  popula- 
tion of  China. 

Her  Imperial  Resources.  China's  resources  stagger 
the  statistician.  Here  are  untouched  fields  of  anthracite 
coal  that  make  those  of  Pennsylvania  seem  parochial  in 

141 


142  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

size;  vast  iron  fields,  great  oil  territory,  unexcelled  min- 
eral wealth,  rivers  so  deep  that  ocean  steamers  can  sail 
six  hundred  miles  inland,  and  a  network  of  streams  and 
canals  that  insure  an  unsurpassed  system  of  water  trans- 
portation. There  are  undeveloped  wheat-fields  vaster 
than  those  of  Canada.  China  has  productive  land  ade- 
quate to  feed  and  clothe  its  people  for  a  thousand  years. 

The  Revolution.  On  this  rich  country  is  placed 
a  great  people,  at  once  the  oldest,  youngest,  most  con- 
servative, most  radical  among  nations;  a  race  that  sur- 
vives overcrowding,  underfeeding,  unending  toil,  tyranny, 
dirt,  and  disease.  This  people,  after  stereotyping  a  system 
of  education  and  resting  apparently  content  for  centuries 
in  the  contemplation  of  their  past,  are  on  the  move  once 
more  in  a  revolution  that,  for  extent,  variety,  depth, 
swiftness,  and  sobriety,  is  unparalleled  in  history.  It 
has  been  a  change  in  government  by  which  a  foreign 
dynasty,  upheld  by  force  for  two  centuries  and  a  half, 
has  been  replaced  by  a  republic.  This  feat  has  been 
accomplished  with  less  shedding  of  blood  than  accom- 
panied single  battles  of  the  Civil  War  in  America. 

Educational  Upheaval.  It  has  meant  the  most 
amazing  educational  reformation  in  history.  A  system 
of  schools  that  was  well  established  when  Abraham  went 
out  of  Ur  in  Chaldees  has  been  abandoned.  The  Chinese 
have  thrown  over  the  old  learning,  methods,  text-books, 
subject-matter,  examinations,  theory.  They  have  begun 
again  from  the  beginning.  In  one  generation  they  must 
make  the  transition  from  the  oldest  to  the  most  modern 
theories  in  educational  science.  They  cannot  make  it 
successfully  without  help. 


THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA  143 

Social  Changes.  It  has  meant  a  revolution  in  social 
custom.  For  the  first  time,  women  as  well  as  men  are 
to  be  admitted  to  the  institutions  of  higher  learning. 
Foot-binding  has  been  discredited  and  prohibited  by  the 
government.  Marriage  customs  are  in  process  of  chan- 
ging. Judicial  procedures  are  being  overhauled.  The 
whole  system  of  criminal  jurisprudence  has  been  altered. 
The  wearing  of  the  cue,  that  distinct  badge  of  the 
Chinaman,  has  been  abandoned.  European  dress  is 
superseding  the  old  Chinese  costume.  The  Chinese  New 
Year  is  set  aside  for  the  first  of  January.  In  his  travel 
and  amusements,  in  his  social  engagements  and  his 
schools,  in  his  marriage  and  in  his  funeral  customs,  the 
Chinese  is  definitely  committed  to  a  policy  of  bringing 
himself  into  harmony  with  the  rest  of  the  world. 

The  Industrial  Revolution.  It  has  meant  a  revo- 
lution in  industry.  Within  one  brief  generation  one- 
fourth  of  the  human  race  will  be  transferred  from  the 
age-long  method  of  hand  production  to  the  new  factory 
system.  Its  water-power  will  be  harnessed  to  the  service 
of  factories,  smelters  will  be  begun,  steel-mills  opened, 
flouring-mills  established.  The  cotton  which  is  raised  in 
China  will  be  there  woven  into  cotton  cloth.  Silk-mills 
will  take  the  place  of  the  old  hand-looms.  Nor  does  one 
need  to  put  this  in  the  future  tense.  The  process  is 
already  begun.  When  one  considers  that  within  the 
bounds  of  the  Chinese  Empire  is  gathered  a  most 
numerous,  hardy,  and  industrious  people,  trained  through 
long  centuries  to  unremitting  toil,  and  gifted  with  a 
genius  for  commercial  afifairs,  the  stupendous  issues  at 
stake  are  clearly  evident.    China  has  a  superlative  quality 

K 


144  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

and  quantity  of  coal,  oil,  and  iron,  the  triad  on  which 
industrial  supremacy  is  built.  Her  entrance  into  the 
fields  of  modern  industrial  organization,  with  the  devel- 
opment of  her  water  and  electrical  power,  means  much 
to  the  world  for  good  or  for  ill. 

Urgency  of  the  Crisis.  All  these  revolutionary 
changes  must  be  accomplished  within  the  space  of  one 
generation.  Said  the  Chinese  Commissioner  at  Edin- 
burgh :  "  My  nation  is  a  people  which  has  broken  with 
its  past.  We  are  like  a  crystal  in  solution.  We  shall  re- 
crystallize."  As  has  been  said :  "  If  the  Classical  Revival, 
the  Italian  Renaissance,  the  Protestant  Reformation,  the 
French  and  American  Revolutions,  and  the  modern  era 
of  machine  production  be  conceived  of  as  operating  at  the 
same  place  and  time  upon  a  single  people,  one  may  gain 
some  faint  conception  of  the  magnitude  of  the  revolution 
now  taking  place  in  China."  The  land,  the  people,  the 
present  crisis,  make  China  the  focal  point  in  the  interest 
of  the  mission  forces  of  to-day.  The  aim  of  the  present 
chapter  will  be  to  trace  the  part  played  by  Baptists  in 
the  planting  of  Christianity  in  China,  to  note  the  present- 
day  opportunities,  and  to  indicate  the  pressing  needs  of 
that  part  of  the  work  committed  to  their  hands. 

Pioneer  Missionary  Endeavor.  Baptists  were  not 
the  first  to  enter  China.  In  1807,  Robert  Morrison,  the 
pioneer  to  China,  was  sent  out  by  the  London  Missionary 
Society.  While  yet  in  England  he  had  begun  work  on 
the  Chinese  language  by  copying  the  Chinese  manuscript 
in  the  British  Museum.  The  ships  of  the  British  East 
India  Company  would  not  sell  passage  to  a  missionary, 
so  Morrison  was  forced  to  go  to  China  by  way  of  New 


THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA  145 

York.  When  he  reached  China  he  was  not  allowed  to 
land  on  the  mainland,  or  to  do  any  except  secret  mis- 
sionary work.  He  became  a  translator  in  the  factory  of 
the  East  India  Company,  located  outside  Canton,  and  was 
virtually  a  prisoner  in  his  own  house.  Here  he  worked 
untiringly  on  a  dictionary  and  translation  of  the  Bible. 
In  1814  the  first  copies  of  the  Chinese  New  Testament 
left  the  press.  And  in  May  of  the  same  year,  near  the 
seashore,  beside  a  spring  which  issued  from  the  foot  of 
a  high  mountain,  the  Chinese  printer,  Tsa  Aku,  who  had 
helped  Morrison  to  print  the  New  Testament,  was  bap- 
tized. 

Meager  First-Fruits.  When  Morrison  died  in  1834, 
after  a  life  of  heroic  self-devotion,  there  were  but  three 
Protestant  Christians  in  China.  The  Bible  had  been 
translated  by  the  help  of  two  Chinamen  who  had  been 
obliged  to  work  in  secret,  hidden  behind  piles  of  mer- 
chandise in  the  Canton  warehouse  of  the  East  India  Com- 
pany. If  detected  they  would  themselves  have  suffered 
death  by  horribly  cruel  punishment. 

In  the  years  between  1829  and  1834,  the  American 
Congregationalists  sent  out  Elijah  C.  Bridgman,  David 
Abeel,  and  Peter  Parker,  the  first  medical  missionary,  to 
establish  a  precarious  footing  in  Canton.  All  missionary 
work  was  interrupted  by  the  opium  war,  and  not  resumed 
until  the  treaty  of  1840  won  for  the  missionaries  the 
right  to  reside  and  to  teach  in  the  five  treaty  ports.  "  The 
same  war,"  says  Dr.  Robert  Speer,  "  which  fastened  the 
opium  curse  on  China,  opened  the  country  to  the  mis- 
sionary and  set  on  foot  the  vast  movement  of  the  Tai 
Ping  Rebellion." 


146  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Tremendous  Obstacles  to  Overcome.  Doctor 
Milne,  the  coadjutor  of  Morrison,  has  said  of  the  diffi- 
culties of  learning  the  Chinese  language,  that  it  was  a 
work  for  men  with  "  bodies  of  brass,  lungs  of  steel,  heads 
of  oak,  hands  of  spring  steel,  eyes  of  eagles,  hearts  of 
apostles,  memories  of  angels,  and  lives  of  Methuselah." 
But  great  as  were  these  difficulties,  the  moral  and  spir- 
itual obstacles  were  even  greater.  When  Morrison  died 
the  prospects  for  any  successful  outcome  of  the  enter- 
prise to  which  he  had  devoted  his  life  were  dark  indeed. 
To  unabated  intolerance  and  contempt  on  the  part  of  the 
Chinese,  exclusion  and  fanaticism  and  official  arrogance 
without  parallel,  were  added  uneven  and  meager  support, 
a  force  never  sufficient  for  the  task  put  upon  it,  and  the 
disheartening  apathy  of  the  Church  at  home.  Three 
helpers  had  come  to  Alorrison,  but  these  had  either  died 
or  withdrawn,  so  that  in  1829  he  was  absolutely  alone. 
It  is  to  the  period  which  immediately  followed  the  open- 
ing up  of  the  treaty  ports  that  the  work  of  American 
Baptists,  like  that  of  the  Presbyterians,  Methodists,  and 
Church  of  England,  belongs. 

Baptist  Work  Begun  in  Siam.  The  story  of  Amer- 
ican Bajitist  missionary  work  in  China,  strangely  enough, 
does  not  begin  in  China,  but  in  Siam,  where  it  is  inter- 
woven with  the  story  of  missions  in  Burma.  Chinese  im- 
migrants had  been  going  into  Siam  in  increasing  streams 
for  decades,  attracted  by  the  rich  resources  and  sparse 
population  of  the  land.  Even  to  this  day  Siam  has  a 
population  of  only  six  million  people  in  a  territory 
larger  than  Germany ;  hence  Siam  does  not  feel  the  pres- 
sure of  life  as  do  many  oriental  nations. 


THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA  147 

Circumstances  of  Siam's  Opening.  It  was  Ann 
Hasseltine  Judson,  the  heroine  of  Burma,  who  first  called 
the  attention  of  Baptists  to  Siam.  She  found  time  in  her 
brief  life  of  unsurpassed  toil  and  suffering  to  learn 
enough  of  the  language  from  an  immigrant  Siamese  to 
translate  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  into  Siamese.  Then  the 
very  ship  which  brought  the  Siamese  twins  to  the  United 
States  brought  also  an  appeal  to  American  churches  to 
enter  Siam.  The  Congregationalists  responded  first  in  a 
mission  that  seemed  a  failure,  but  really  had  long,  long 
influence,  for  it  gave  Siam  a  tutor  to  the  Crown  Prince, 
who  made  him  the  first  progressive  monarch  of  the  Far 
East,  Chulalongkorn,  the  steadfast  friend  of  missions. 

Doctor  Jones  Goes  to  Siam.  The  first  Baptist  mis- 
sionary who  entered  Siam  was  John  Taylor  Jones,  of 
Moulmein,  Burma.  During  his  missionary  service  in 
Moulmein  he  had  become  interested  in  an  interior  tribe 
called  the  Talains,  among  whom  no  work  had  yet  been 
done.  While  attempting  to  learn  their  language,  he 
found  that  they  were  very  numerous  in  Siam,  where  they 
could  be  more  easily  reached  through  the  Siamese  lan- 
guage. Those  were  the  days  of  pioneer  experimentation 
in  missions.  So  Doctor  Jones  light-heartedly  set  out  for 
Bangkok,  and  there  began  in  earnest  the  study  of  Siamese. 
He  hoped  by  this  means  to  reach  the  Talain  people  scat- 
tered throughout  Burma  and  Siam,  who  had  no  written 
language.  Doctor  Jones  was  another  in  the  long  roll  of 
Baptist  missionaries  who  have  been  distinguished  in  the 
translation  of  the  Bible.  In  1843  he  had  completed  his 
translation  of  the  New  Testament  into  Siamese,  and 
as  an  interpreter  had  rendered  valuable  services  to  the 


148  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

government  of  Siam  and  to  the  English  and  American 
ambassadors  in  their  treaty  negotiations. 

William  Dean  Sent  to  the  Chinese.  While  Doctor 
Jones  during  his  service  in  Bangkok  had  come  into  con- 
tact with  Chinese  immigrants,  it  was  William  Dean  who 
was  sent  out  as  the  first  American  Baptist  missionary  to 
the  Chinese,  under  instructions  to  proceed  to  Bangkok 
and  there  begin  his  study  of  the  Chinese  language.  At 
that  time  entrance  into  China  was  so  difficult,  and  a  foot- 
hold there  so  precarious,  that  it  seemed  to  the  Board  that 
Siam  offered  the  best  door  of  entrance  into  China. 

Adventure  with  Pirates.  It  was  a  notable  group 
of  missionaries  that  sailed  from  Boston  on  the  good  ship 
"  Cashmere,"  July  3,  1834.  In  addition  to  the  Deans, 
there  were  the  Wades,  with  the  two  Karen  Christians 
who  had  accompanied  Mr.  Wade  in  his  wonderful  meet- 
ings throughout  the  country;  the  Howards,  the  Vintons, 
the  Osgoods,  the  Comstocks,  all  bound  for  Burma.  At 
Moulmein,  where  the  Burmese  missionaries  left  the  ship, 
a  frail  little  six-year-old  boy  was  brought  on  board  and 
entrusted  to  the  Deans  as  far  as  Singapore.  This  was 
George  Dana  Boardman,  later  one  of  the  best  loved  and 
most  distinguished  ministers  of  the  Baptist  denomina- 
tion. He  was  a  son  of  George  Dana  Boardman,  the  asso- 
ciate of  Adoniram  Judson.  Those  were  perilous  days. 
The  Deans,  after  a  few  weeks'  delay  in  Singapore,  took 
the  little  fellow  in  a  Chinese  boat  to  put  him  aboard  the 
"  Cashmere,"  which  was  about  to  sail  for  the  United 
States.  On  the  way,  when  ten  miles  from  shore  and  five 
miles  from  the  ship,  they  were  attacked,  while  alone  and 
unarmed,  by  fierce  Malay  pirates.    Mr.  Jones  was  thrown 


THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA  149 

into  the  water  and  nearly  drowned,  and  both  he  and  Mr. 
Dean  received  numerous  spear-thrusts.  But  the  child, 
hiding  under  the  seat  of  the  boat,  was  unharmed. 

First  Protestant  Church  in  Siam.  The  work  among 
the  Chinese  had  already  had  its  small  beginnings  when 
William  Dean  arrived  in  Bangkok.  Among  the  little  com- 
l^any  who  had  been  coming  to  Doctor  Jones'  house  for  in- 
struction, was  a  Christian  Chinese  convert  and  a  little 
band  of  inquirers.  These  became  a  nucleus  of  the  first 
Protestant  church  in  Siam,  organized  by  Mr.  Dean  in 
1837.  During  his  ministry  in  Siam  Mr.  Dean  organized 
five  Chinese  churches,  and  baptized  about  five  hundred 
Chinese  disciples,  a  larger  number  probably  than  were 
gathered  in  during  the  same  period  in  all  China.  Many 
of  these  emigrants,  upon  their  return  to  the  mother  coun- 
try, became  obscure  sowers  of  the  seed  of  the  gospel, 
whose  abundant  harvest  we  are  witnessing  in  our  own 
times. 

Echoes  of  an  Old  Dispute.  As  soon  as  the  signing 
of  the  treaty  in  1842  threw  open  the  five  treaty  ports  to 
missionary  eflfort,  the  Baptist  mission  was  planted  on  the 
mainland  of  China.  Mr.  Dean  moved  up  to  Hongkong 
from  Siam,  and  John  L.  Shuck  and  Issacher  Roberts, 
from  the  settlement  of  Macao,  where  they  had  gathered  a 
tiny  church,  the  first  Baptist  church  of  China.  The  com- 
ment of  an  early  historian  casts  an  amusing  side-light 
upon  the  distance  we  have  come  from  those  early  days  of 
uncompromising  and  sometimes  prickly  standing  up  for 
opinion.  It  seems  that  in  1847  Mr.  Roberts  had  made  a 
vain  eflFort  to  unite  a  little  church  in  Canton,  founded  by 
Mr.  Shuck,  with  a  church  of  three  members  which  he 


ISO  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

himself  had  organized.  Because  Mr.  Shuck  had  hecn,  in 
1845,  the  only  one  of  the  Baptist  missionaries  in  China  to 
cast  his  lot  with  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention,  this 
very  sensible  proposal  of  Mr.  Roberts  was  bitterly  opposed 
and  defeated.  The  historian  solemnly,  and  with  a  wise 
shake  of  the  head,  thus  comments : 

He  seems  not  to  have  considered  that  only  one 
wronged  and  oppressed  Baptist  is  sufficient  to  commence 
pulling  down  a  church,  and  so  making  no  end  of  noise 
and  dust.  Dear  reader,  harken  to  the  voice  of  experi- 
ence. 

Thank  God,  we  do  not  live  in  those  dear  old  days. 

John  L.  Shuck  Enlists.  It  was  this  same  gallant 
soidier  of  Christ,  John  L.  Shuck,  about  whom  the  follow- 
\^g  story  is  told :  At  the  close  of  a  missionary  meeting, 
when  the  deacons  were  counting  the  offering,  they  found 
with  the  coins  and  bills  a  card  on  which  was  written  one 
word  :  "  Myself."  "  Who  put  this  in  ?  "  asked  one.  "  Oh, 
a  young  man  back  in  the  congregation,"  was  the  answer. 
But  this  young  man  was  destined  to  be  one  of  the  noblest 
soldiers  of  the  Cross  sent  into  China  by  the  Baptists  of 
the  South. 

Beginnings  in  Kw^angtung.  The  province  in  which 
the  Baptists  had  now  established  their  mission  was 
Kwangtung.  Here,  in  the  territory  about  as  large  as 
Oregon,  lives  a  population  as  numerous  as  that  of  France. 
From  this  province  come  most  of  the  immigrants  to  the 
United  States;  the  Cantonese,  sailors,  adventurers,  mer- 
chants, traders — restless  and  democratic.  It  was  not  until 
after  the  war  of  1857  that  the  mission  was  transferred  to 


ON    THE    MISSIUX    COMPOUND    AT    SWATOW 


! 

15*^  *■ ' 

CHINESE   BIBLE-WOMEN    AND    MISSIONARY 


THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA  151 

Swatow,  then  for  the  first  time  thrown  open  to  foreign 
trade  and  residence.  Here  in  Swatow  the  Ashmores, 
Johnsons,  and  Partridges  addressed  themselves  to  the 
task  of  laying  deep  foundations  for  the  present  wonder- 
ful center  of  the  South  China  Mission.  The  story  of 
Swatow  is  another  illustration  of  how  one  man  sows  and 
another  reaps.  The  Rhenish  and  Basel  missions  of  Ger- 
many had  entered  Kwangtung  in  1847.  One  of  their 
great  men  had  made  a  heroic  and  persistent  attempt  to 
establish  a  station  there  and  had  been  repulsed  by  the 
insolence  and  contempt  of  the  people.  Yet,  in  this  very 
region,  William  Ashmore,  of  the  Baptist,  and  William  C. 
Burns,  of  the  English  Presbyterian  mission,  were  to  found 
one  of  the  great  Christian  centers  in  China. 

Troublous  Days  for  the  Missionaries.  The  first 
twenty  years  after  the  opening  of  the  five  treaty  ports 
were  calculated  to  test  the  fiber  of  the  missionaries. 
Everywhere  they  were  surrounded  by  opposition  and  mis- 
understanding, by  the  covert  threatenings  of  politicians, 
the  anti-foreign  feeling  of  the  people,  the  constant  pres- 
ence of  war.  For  fifteen  years  the  Tai  Ping  Rebellion 
devastated  the  empire,  interrupting  mission  work  alto- 
gether for  long  periods.  Baptist  missionaries  were  close 
to  the  springs  of  this  most  terrible  civil  war  in  history, 
a  war  in  which  whole  provinces  were  made  deserts,  and 
during  which  fifty  millions  of  people  perished.  One  can 
understand  neither  the  past  nor  the  present  of  Chinese 
missions  without  taking  account  of  the  Tai  Ping  Rebel- 
lion, so  long  misunderstood  and  belittled. 

Victorious  March  of  the  Tai  Pings.  Sweeping  out 
of  the  South  came  the  terrible  iconoclasts,  breaking  up 


152  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

idols,  throwing  them  into  the  rivers,  conquering  all  before 
them,  until  they  had  taken  their  victorious  army  to  Nan- 
king, the  ancient  capital  of  the  nation.  They  were  never 
checked  until  the  government  forces  were  drilled  and 
officered  by  an  American,  General  Ward ;  nor  conquered, 
except  by  the  genius  of  General  Charles  G.  Gordon,  the 
hero  of  Khartoum.  Says  Dr.  W.  A.  P.  Martin :  "  Had 
foreign  powers  promptly  recognized  the  Tai  Ping  chief, 
might  it  not  have  shortened  a  chapter  of  horrors  that 
dragged  on  for  fifteen  years  and  caused  the  loss  of  fifty 
millions  of  human  lives  ?  Is  it  not  probable  that  the  new 
power  would  have  shown  more  aptitude  than  did  the  old 
one  for  the  assimilation  of  new  ideas?"* 

An  Unrealized  Possibility.  Many  of  the  best  in- 
formed observers  were  of  the  opinion  that  in  the  Tai 
Ping  Rebellion  were  great  possibilities  for  the  Christiani- 
zation  of  China,  unrealized  because  the  so-called  Christian 
nations  were  not  ready  when  the  crisis  came. 

It  was  the  day  of  all  days  for  the  evangelization  of 
China.  God  seemed  to  stay  the  sun  in  the  heavens  to  pro- 
long it,  but  it  passed  at  last.  The  shadows  fell  again 
across  the  land,  and  in  the  dark  the  temples  rose,  and 
once  more  the  idols  came  back  and  looked  down  on  their 
worshipers,  and  the  Christian  church,  barring  here  and 
there  some  eager  soul,  who  felt  the  anguish  of  it  all,  slept 
content,  not  knowing  what  the  day  was  that  had  gone. 
— Robert  E.  Speer. 

Issacher  Roberts,  First  Missionary  to  Lepers.  Dur- 
ing the  entire  twenty  years  preceding  the  collapse  of  the 

*  Cycle  of  Cathay,  p.  14. 


THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA  153 

Tai  Ping  Rebellion  in  1865,  the  whole  nation  had  been 
kept  in  a  constant  whirl  of  excitement  and  terror  which 
made  the  prosecution  of  missionary  work  difficult  or  im- 
possible. One  of  the  picturesque  figures  of  these  early 
years  was  the  Issacher  Roberts  who  has  already  been 
mentioned  in  connection  with  the  Tai  Ping  Rebellion. 
He  gave  his  own  property  to  create  the  fund  which  sent 
him  out  in  1836.  He  worked  at  his  trade  of  saddlery  to 
support  himself  while  in  Macao,  and  was  probably  the 
first  missionary  in  China  to  begin  Christian  work  among 
the  lepers,  as  he  was  the  first  to  pay  with  his  own  life  the 
price  of  such  ministry.  For  in  1866  he  returned  to  his 
country,  himself  a  leper,  to  die. 

Second  Center  Opened  Among  the  Hakkas.  It 
was  not  until  1882  that  the  second  center  in  the  South 
China  Mission  was  opened  among  the  Hakkas  in  the  hill- 
country.  These  Hakkas  are  an  immigrant  people  speak- 
ing a  dififerent  dialect  from  that  of  Swatow.  They  are  a 
powerful  people,  of  strong  intellectual  capacity,  showing 
an  unusual  passion  for  education.  Their  women  have 
never  bound  their  feet.  The  vicissitudes  which  have  de- 
layed the  pioneer  work  among  this  people  are  shown  in  the 
simple  statement  that  out  of  twenty  missionaries  assigned 
to  the  Hakkas  sixteen  have  died  or  been  compelled  to 
retire  for  ill-health,  so  that  for  years  the  burden  of  the 
work  rested  on  one  family,  the  Whitmans.  The  last  five 
years  have  seen  the  determined  reenforcement  of  this 
field.  In  1911  the  Missionary  Conference  of  South  China 
urged  upon  the  Society  to  give  a  paramount  place  to  the 
needs  of  the  Hakka  Chinese.  Little  has  been  done  up  to 
this  time  to  carry  out  this  recommendation. 


154  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Original  Contribution  to  the  Science  of  Missions. 

Miss  Adelc  I'ield  was  the  first  missionary  to  train  and 
employ  Bible-women,  a  form  of  service  so  fruitful  that  it 
has  been  caught  up  and  developed  by  the  missionaries  of 
every  denomination  in  the  mission  fields  of  the  world. 
Lil:e  all  great  inventions,  it  is  so  simple  that  we  wonder 
why  every  one  did  not  think  of  it.  Miss  Field's  practice 
was  to  gather  together  groups  of  Christian  Chinese 
women  to  teach  them  some  simple  gospel  truth,  and 
to  send  them  out  to  teach  this  in  the  homes  of  the  com- 
munity, wherever  a  door  was  open  to  them.  When  they 
returned,  she  patiently  taught  another  lesson,  and  sent 
them  out  again.  This  simple  method  of  hers  marks  the 
call  of  a  new  regiment  into  the  army  of  mission  work. 
It  is  recognized  to-day  that  the  Bible-woman  is  one  of 
the  most  essential  and  efficient  factors  in  the  spread  of 
Christianity  in  any  country. 

Beginnings  of  the  East  China  Mission.  The  sec- 
ond field  to  be  entered  was  East  China.  All  the  stations 
but  Nanking  and  Shanghai  are  located  in  Chekiang,  the 
smallest  and  most  eastern  province  of  China,  with  a 
population  of  eleven  millions  in  a  territory  no  larger  than 
that  of  Ohio.  This  busy  province,  with  its  rich  commer- 
cial cities,  its  hills  and  mountains,  its  fertile  valleys,  and 
many  rivers,  is  one  of  the  richest  in  the  Empire,  and  con- 
tains Hangchow,  the  ancient  capital  of  the  country  during 
the  Sung  dynasty.  In  this  province  many  missionaries 
from  many  lands  and  churches  are  working  together,  and 
some  might  feel  that  the  Baptists  were  not  really  needed. 
"  What?  Three  hundred  missionaries  in  one  province?  " 
Yes,  but  that  only  means  one  missionary  to  thirty  thou- 


THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA  155 

sand  people.  In  America  it  would  take  twenty-seven 
thousand  Protestant  ministers  to  look  after  the  eleven 
million,  five  hundred  thousand  people,  besides  all  the 
other  church  workers  and  the  Catholic  priests.  So,  per- 
haps, the  modest  Baptist  contingent  of  fifty  missionaries, 
more  or  less,  does  not  overcrowd  the  situation.  Here  are 
Ningpo,  and  Shaohsing,  and  Kinhwa,  and  Huchow,  and 
Hangchow,  all  great  cities,  centers  of  influence,  not  only 
of  this  province,  but  of  the  entire  country.  In  the  ad- 
jacent provinces  of  Kiangsu  there  are  stations  in  Shanghai 
and  Nanking,  the  "  New  York  "  and  "  Boston  "  of  China. 
Work  in  these  two  East  China  provinces  was  opened  by 
the  first  Baptist  medical  missionary  to  China,  D.  J.  Mac- 
Gowan,  M.D.,  who  opened  a  hospital  at  Ningpo  in  1843, 
and  did  for  this  part  of  China  the  same  sort  of  work  that 
Dr.  Peter  Parker  had  done  in  Canton.  His  cures  and 
operations  seemed  nothing  less  than  miraculous  to  the 
Chinese.  Notable  names  of  the  East  China  Mission  are 
^he  Goddards,  the  Knowltons,  and  the  Jenkinses.  Doctor 
Goddard's  translation  of  the  New  Testament  in  the 
vernacular  of  the  common  people  was  published  in 
1872  by  the  American  and  Foreign  Bible  Society. 

Beginnings  in  West  China.  It  was  forty  years  after 
the  opening  of  the  work  before  a  third  field.  West  China, 
was  added  to  Baptist  missions.  On  the  western  edge  of  the 
Empire  lies  the  Empire  State,  Szechuan  (Four  Rivers), 
the  largest  and  most  populous  province  of  the  republic, 
with  an  area  greater  than  that  of  California,  and  a  popu- 
lation of  sixty-eight  millions.  Here  is  an  imperial  land 
of  mountains  and  streams  and  fruitful  valleys,  of  great 
mineral  wealth,  with  an  industrious,  ambitious,  and  pro- 


156  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

gressive  people  whose  standard  of  living  has  never  been 
reduced  to  that  of  the  crowded  East  and  South.  The 
recent  revolution  began  in  Szechuan,  and  here  is  one  of 
the  centers  for  all  forward-looking  movements. 

When  our  first  missionary  entered  Szechuan  in  1884,  it 
was  really  primitive  pioneer  territory  "  three  months  up 
the  river."  The  missionaries  assumed  Chinese  dress  and 
met  narrow  escapes  at  the  hands  of  Chinese  mobs  before 
they  could  plant  the  mission  at  Suifu.  "  I  went  to  find 
a  heathen,  I  found  a  brother,"  said  one  of  them  on  his 
first  furlough. 

Work  Interrupted  by  Anti-Foreign  Riots.  Stations 
have  been  established  at  Suifu  ( 1889  )  ;  Kiatingfu  ( 1894)  ; 
Yachowfu  (1894);  Ningyuanfu  (1905);  and  Chengtu 
(1909).  The  first  bitter  prejudice  of  the  people  seemed 
softened,  when  the  terrible  riots  of  1895  made  it  neces- 
sary for  all  the  missionaries  in  Szechuan  to  flee  for  their 
lives,  and  broke  up  all  missionary  work  for  a  year.  The 
work  was  again  beginning  to  thrive,  when  came  the 
Boxer  uprising.  All  missionaries  were  ordered  to  leave. 
When  they  returned  after  the  storm  had  calmed,  they 
were  rejoiced  to  find  that  the  little  Christian  community 
had  come  through  the  terrible  ordeal  unscathed,  faithful 
unto  death. 

Central  China  Mission,  The  last  of  the  quadrilat- 
eral of  missions  to  be  formed  is  the  Central  China  Mission, 
located  in  the  very  ganglion  of  industrial  China,  in  the 
province  of  Hupeh.  Ocean  steamers  can  come  six  hun- 
dred miles  up  the  Yangtse  to  Hanyang,  Hankow,  and 
Wuchang,  the  three  centers  of  China's  new  industrial 
civilization.     Here  are  the  government   iron  and   steel- 


MISSIOXARIIiS    TRAVELING    IN    WEST    CHINA 


A    MORNING    CONGREGATION    AT    HANYANG 


THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA  157 

mills,  the  arsenal  and  gun-works,  the  smokeless-powder 
factories,  the  brick-kilns  and  rolling-mills,  the  water- 
front, the  docks  with  the  warships  of  many  nations  at 
anchor.  It  was  not  until  1893  that  Rev.  Joseph  S.  Adams 
removed  from  the  East  China  Mission  to  Hanyang.  After 
conference  with  representatives  of  other  denominations, 
there  was  assigned  to  the  mission  a  territory  a  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  long  and  one  hundred  miles  wide,  contain- 
ing a  population  of  five  millions. 

Fruits  of  Labors.  In  these  four  fields  the  mission- 
aries have  been  building  up  with  infinite  care  and  patience 
a  Chinese  Christian  Church.  What  are  the  fruits  of  their 
labors?  In  1862,  after  twenty-six  years,  there  were 
ninety-nine  Chinese  Baptist  church-members  connected 
with  the  missions  of  Northern  Baptists.  Twenty  years 
later  the  number  had  risen  to  one  thousand  and  eighty- 
two.  In  1902,  there  were  two  thousand,  eight  hundred 
and  thirty-nine.  Ten  years  later,  in  1912,  there  were 
numbered  in  these  Chinese  Baptist  churches,  six  thou- 
sand and  seventy-one  members.  This  shows  a  larger 
numerical  gain  in  the  last  ten  years  than  in  the  preceding 
twenty.  The  contributions  of  the  same  Chinese  Baptist 
churches  show  an  equally  encouraging  increase.  In  1862, 
members  of  Chinese  churches  connected  with  the  mission, 
gave  $59.56,  or  sixty  cents  each.  In  1882  the  aggregate 
was  $778.79,  or  seventy-two  cents  per  capita.  In  1902 
the  contributions  were  $2,987,  or  one  dollar  and  five 
cents  per  capita.  In  1912  the  amount  was  $8,167,  or  one 
dollar  and  thirty-four  cents  per  capita. 

Comparison  with  Work  of  Other  Denominations. 
While  the  gains  are  both  full  of  encouragement  and  an 


158  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

evidence  of  the  thorough  work  done  by  a  widely  scattered 
and  often  depleted  band  of  missionaries,  yet  there  is 
another  side  to  the  question  that  ought  not  to  be  lost  sight 
of.  Three  other  denominations  doing  missionary  work 
in  the  same  period  and  under  similar  conditions  can  show 
results  even  more  encouraging.  The  Congregationalists 
entered  the  field  eleven  years  later  than  the  Northern 
Baptists,  and  had,  in  1911,  eleven  thousand  members,  as 
against  five  thousand,  two  hundred  and  fifteen.  The 
Presbyterians,  entering  ten  years  later,  had  twenty- 
one  thousand,  three  hundred  and  nine  members;  the 
Methodists,  thirty  thousand,  one  hundred  and  ninety-one. 
The  missionary  forces  of  the  four  denominations  in  1911 
were :  Northern  Baptists,  one  hundred  and  twenty-three ; 
Congregationalists,  one  hundred  and  thirteen  ;  Methodists, 
two  hundred  and  forty-one;  and  Presbyterians,  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy-four.  If  we  compare  the  adherents  in 
each  case,  the  Christian  community  ministered  to  by  these 
four  missions,  and  not  merely  the  church-membership,  we 
shall  have,  perhaps,  a  fairer  comparison.  The  Baptist 
constituency  numbers  thirteen  thousand,  eight  hundred 
and  twenty-eight;  the  Congregationalists,  thirteen  thou- 
sand, nine  hundred  and  twenty-seven ;  the  Methodists, 
fifty-three  thousand,  three  hundred  and  thirteen ;  the 
Presbyterians,  sixty-seven  thousand,  nine  hundred  and 
thirty-nine.* 

Education  an  Aid  to  Evangelism.  Can  we  discover 
any  reason  for  the  more  bountiful  harvests  enjoyed  by 
the  brethren  of  other  churches?     In   some  cases  their 

*  Sec  World   Atlas  Christian  Missions,  p.  87. 


THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA 


m 


work  has  been  more  centralized  and  less  scattered  than 
that  of  the  Baptists ;  in  some  cases,  perhaps,  better 
equipped  and  more  adequately  supported.  But  in  regard 
to  the  two  denominations  having  the  greatest  accessions, 
there  has  been  a  difference  in  emphasis.     The  Presby- 

1862  1872  18,82  18,92  1902  19J2 


LLij 


60<tPerMeTnber 


724Per  Member 


SlOSPer  Member 


$1.34PerMemler 


Increase  in  Gifts  of  Chinese  Baptist  Christians 
L 


i6o  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

tcrian  Church,  by  its  early  realization  of  the  necessity  for 
well-equipped,  adequately  manned  schools  of  high  grade, 
has  been  able  to  raise  up  able  leaders  among  the  Chinese 
themselves.  It  has  worked  on  the  theory  that  the  might- 
iest agent  of  all  evangelization  is,  in  the  long  run,  Chris- 
tian education.  Foregoing  the  hopes  of  immediate  re- 
turns, the  missionaries  sought  to  multiply  their  powers  a 
hundredfold  in  the  lives  of  pupils  to  whom  they  had 
given  the  best,  highest,  most  scientific,  and  thorough 
Christian  training  possible.  The  results  of  this  policy 
seem  to  prove  its  wisdom.  Out  of  these  splendid  schools 
have  come  the  men  who  are  winning  China  for  Christ. 
Three  of  the  seven  Christian  men  holding  cabinet  posi- 
tions in  the  Chinese  Government  are  the  sons  of  Chris- 
tian pastors,  the  products  of  missionary  colleges.  One 
Presbyterian  school,  that  of  Doctor  Mateer,  turned  out 
almost  every  graduate  to  become  a  Christian  leader,  and 
furnished  thirteen  Christian  professors  for  the  first  im- 
perial universities  to  be  organized.  It  was  in  the  Chris- 
tian college  of  Shantung  that  the  remarkable  movement) 
began  under  the  Rev.  Ting  Li  ]\Iei  in  1909,  in  which  one- 
third  of  the  student  body  turned  their  backs  on  official 
preferment,  distinction,  and  large  salaries,  and  volun- 
teered for  the  gospel  ministry.  Since  then  the  number  of 
groups  of  such  volunteers  has  risen  to  one  hundred  and 
four.  And  two  hundred  and  fifty  new  men  volunteered 
during  1912.  The  leaders  of  New  China  to-day  are  the 
products  of  Christian  education.  The  denominations 
which  led  in  education  are  leading  the  nation  to-day. 

Baptist  Educational  Ideals.     Baptists,  on  the  con- 
trary, for  many  years  laid  their  stress  upon  evangelism. 


THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA  i6i 

Such  schools  as  were  established  were  small  and  poorly 
equipped.  "  The  primary  purpose,"  said  they,  "  in  the 
establishment  of  schools  has  been  the  education  of  the 
children  from  Christian  homes  in  order  to  develop  an 
intelligent  Christian  community,  able  to  read  and  to  use 
the  Scriptures."  The  fruit  of  this  policy  was  failure  to 
develop  strong  leaders  among  the  Chinese  and  limitation 
of  the  growth  of  the  mission  to  the  numbers  who  could  be 
influenced  by  the  direct  evangelistic  labors  of  the  mis- 
sionaries with  such  helpers  as  they  could  train.  Happily, 
there  have  never  been  wanting  Baptist  missionaries  who 
clearly  saw  the  inevitable  weakness  and  immaturity  that 
must  continue  in  the  church  whose  leaders  were  men  of 
little  education  and  capacity.  In  the  face  of  indifferent 
support  on  the  part  of  the  denomination,  they  have  built 
up  schools  that  are  the  nuclei  of  the  splendid  system  that 
is  to  be. 

Methodist  Emphasis  on  Woman's  Work.  The 
Methodist  Church,  while  emphasizing  higher  education 
in  common  with  the  Presbyterian,  has  laid  particular 
stress  on  the  development  of  its  work  for  women.  Their 
missionary  bishops  were  among  the  first  to  discover  that 
the  key  to  the  situation  in  China  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
women.  When  Bishop  Bashford  found,  in  his  tour 
among  the  churches,  that  the  women  members  of  the 
church  were  only  one-tenth  as  numerous  as  were  the  men, 
he  at  once  began  a  campaign  to  secure  women  evangelistic 
missionaries,  the  establishment  of  training  schools  for 
Bible-women,  and  of  schools  of  higher  education  for  girls. 
This  church  was  the  first  to  realize  the  importance  of  the 
trained   Chinese   woman   physician.     The   four  pioneer 


i62  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

women  physicians  among  the  Chinese,  ?Iu  King  Eng,  Ida 
Kahn,  Mary  Stone,  Li  Bi  Cu,  were  all  girls  sent  to 
America  to  receive  the  most  thorough  college  and  medical 
training,  and  then  appointed  as  full  medical  missionaries 
under  the  Methodist  Woman's  Board. 

This  enlightened  policy  of  giving  full  rank  and  complete 
responsibility  and  authority  to  properly  equipped  Chinese 
women  has  given  the  Methodist  Church  a  position  of 
leadership  in  this  field.  The  hospitals  presided  over  by 
these  women,  the  nurses'  training  schools  which  they  have 
developed,  the  system  of  village  itineration  and  evangel- 
ization which  they  have  organized,  are  great  factors  in  the 
ever-widening  spread  of  Christian  truth  in  the  community 
served  by  the  Methodist  Church.  Taking  up  the  idea  of 
the  training  of  Bible-women,  the  Methodists  developed  it 
until  they  had  well-organized  schools  where  women  might 
receive  a  thorough  training  extending  over  months  or 
years  to  fit  them  to  become  real  leaders  among  their  own 
people.  This  policy  enormously  increases  the  power  of  the 
individual  missionary  to  reach  thousands  whom  her  own 
personal  message  could  never  touch.  At  first  it  seems 
much  slower  and  less  rewarding  than  the  policy  of  per- 
sonal itinerating  and  evangelizing;  but  the  dozen  girls 
into  whom  a  missionary  has  poured  her  life,  so  that  they 
in  turn  are  filled  with  the  spirit  of  Christ,  can  do,  not 
twelve,  but  a  hundred  times  as  effective  work.  More  and 
more  the  native  agency  must  be  emphasized,  the  foreign 
missionary  become  the  leader,  inspirer,  and  servant  of 
those  whose  increase  means  his  own  decrease. 

Educational  Opportunity  in  Szechuan.  In  West 
China  the  Baptists  are  facing  an  educational  opportunity 


THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA  163 

unexcelled  in  the  mission  fields  of  the  world.  Here,  in 
a  territory  as  large  as  France,  with  a  population  even 
larger,  the  government  educational  scheme  is  not  strong, 
and  Christian  schools  may  take  the  field.  Most  of  the 
denominations  at  work  in  the  province  have  united  in  one 
system  of  schools,  with  one  course  of  study,  under  one 
superintendent,  whose  salary  is  paid  jointly.  This  unified 
system  of  primary  and  secondary  schools  is  to  be  crowned 
by  the  West  China  Union  University  at  Chengtu,  the 
capital.  The  university  is  already  organized,  is  teaching 
its  first  pupils;  but  permanent  buildings  are  yet  to  be 
erected.  Baptist  missionaries  are  represented  on  the  fac- 
ulty. The  project  includes  the  raising  of  a  half-million 
dollars  for  buildings  and  endowment,  of  which  the  Bap- 
tists are  expected  to  furnish  one-fifth.  There  are  to  be 
normal  training  schools  for  the  training  of  both  men  and 
women  teachers,  a  medical  school,  and  it  is  hoped,  ulti- 
mately, a  union  theological  seminary  affiliated  with  the 
university. 

Other  Union  Schools.  Another  big  educational  ad- 
vance is  the  Union  Girls'  School  in  Hangchow,  in  which 
the  Baptist  Woman's  Society  unites  with  the  Presbyte- 
rians, North  and  South,  to  form  a  magnificent  girls' 
school  that  will  ultimately  become  a  woman's  college. 
In  East  China  there  is  a  general  movement  for  union 
work  in  education.  A  commission  has  been  appointed, 
consisting  of  two  members  from  each  of  the  larger  mis- 
sion bodies  at  work  in  the  province.  It  is  proposed  to 
affiliate  all  schools  with  the  University  of  Nanking,  and 
to  correlate  all  educational  work  so  as  to  cut  out  waste 
and  duplication  and  also  to  strengthen  existing  schools. 


i64  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

In  Ningpo  the  Baptists,  Presbyterians,  and  English 
Methodists  are  considering  union  work.  The  Theological 
Seminary  and  College  at  Shanghai  represents  union  be- 
tween Baptists  of  the  North  and  South — surely  a  sensible 
step.  In  this  enlarged  and  strengthened  seminary  the 
men  who  are  to  be  the  preachers  and  evangelists  of  the 
future  are  being  trained.  Students  in  the  college  and 
seminary  are  already  entering  into  social  service.  The 
seminary  and  college  have  the  same  president,  Dr.  F. 
J.  White,  who  is  laying  the  foundations  of  a  first-class 
Baptist  university. 

A  Notable  Chinese  Christian.  Tong  Tsing  En,  the 
Chinese  dean  of  the  seminary,  is  the  notable  man  who 
represented  Chinese  Baptists  at  Edinburgh.*  Twenty 
years  ago  a  Baptist  missionary  befriended  a  poor  boy, 
and  started  him  on  the  road  to  an  education.  He  is  now 
this  man  of  weight  and  influence,  both  through  his  wri- 
tings and  his  public  addresses.  He  is  a  foremost  member 
of  the  national  Executive  Committee  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association.  Professor  Tong  has  had  on  his 
heart  the  needs  of  adult  illiterates,  to  which  class  a 
majority  of  the  Chinese  belong.  For  their  use  he  has 
prepared  a  primer  and  nine  little  volumes  on  hygiene, 
ethics,  farming,  physical  geography,  reform  of  customs, 
the  country,  the  relations  of  man,  etc.  By  a  wonderfully 
ingenious  adaptation  he  has  made  it  possible  to  do  this, 
using  only  six  hundred  characters  instead  of  the  usual 

*  World  Missionary  Conference  of  1910  in  which  representa- 
tives of  the  Protestant  ^Mission  Boards  met  in  a  scries  of  meet- 
ings which  have  been  called  the  most  momentous  gathering  of 
Christians  since  the  day  of  Pentecost.  (See  Gairdner,  "Echoes 
from  Edinburgh,   1910.") 


YATTS    HALL,    SHANGHAI    BAPTIST    COLLEGE 


CHINESE    MEDICAL    STUDENTS    AT   NANKING 


THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA  165 

three  thousand  or  more.  This  simpHfied  reading  system 
makes  it  possible  for  adults  to  learn  to  read  in  a  year's 
course  what  would  require  a  long  period  of  training  by 
the  old  methods.  Four  of  the  books  are  already  pub- 
lished. Mr.  Tong  is  pushing  the  organization  of  eve- 
ning classes  for  both  men  and  women.  This  one  man  of 
national  influence  is  worth  all  the  money  ever  expended 
by  the  Baptists  in  China. 

Work  Among  Pastors'  Wives.  As  most  of  the 
students  are  married  it  is  possible  to  do  an  important 
work  in  training  their  wives,  who,  as  pastors'  wives,  will 
be  women  of  influence  in  their  communities.  Lessons  in 
the  care  and  feeding  of  children,  and  in  home  nursing  and 
sanitation  are  given,  along  with  simple  Bible  study  and 
preparation  for  Sunday-school  work.  Mrs.  Mabee  re- 
cently appealed  to  women  in  the  homeland  to  supply 
soap,  talcum  powder,  gauze,  absorbent  cotton,  and  the 
like,  to  use  in  teaching  these  women. 

Ashmore  Theological  Seminary.  The  other  theo- 
logical school  is  located  at  Swatow.  It  is  a  memorial  to 
that  apostolic  missionary,  William  Ashmore,  Sr.  The 
splendid  building  and  the  land  were  both  the  gifts  of 
Doctor  Ashmore's  family.  "  He,  being  dead,  yet  speak- 
eth"  in  the  work  that  was  dearest  to  his  heart,  the  prep- 
aration of  men  to  preach  the  gospel.  Recently  fifteen 
men  from  the  seminary  started  out  for  a  ten  days'  evan- 
gelistic campaign.  They  divided  into  three  bands  and 
went  through  hundreds  of  villages,  preaching  and  selling 
books  and  speaking  to  thousands.  Another  campaign  was 
conducted  in  Chaochowfu,  the  prefectural  city.  The 
party    of    forty-two,    including    seminary    and   academy 


i66  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

students,  missionaries,  and  colporters,  was  given  half-fare 
on  the  railway  for  the  ride  of  thirty  miles.  Every  shop 
was  visited,  thousands  of  copies  of  literature  sold,  and 
thousands  of  people  stirred  by  the  Christian  speaking  and 
singing.  This  Salvation  Army  method  made  a  great  im- 
pression, brought  out  a  favorable  editorial  in  the  daily 
paper,  and  inspired  the  students  with  the  spirit  of  aggres- 
sive evangelism. 

Work  of  Chinese  Evangelists.  With  the  establish- 
ment of  the  republic,  opportunities  for  wide-spread  evan- 
gelism were  opened,  undreamed  of  as  a  possibility  a  few 
years  ago.  The  Chinese  church  itself  is  developing  won- 
derful leaders  of  this  work.  When  Pastor  Ting  Li  Mei, 
who  has  been  called  the  Moody  of  China,  came  to  Hang- 
chow  two  years  ago,  in  one  meeting  over  one  hundred  and 
eighty  persons  professed  conversion,  and  fifty  students 
dedicated  themselves  to  the  ministry.  A  woman  evan- 
gelist of  apostolic  fervor  and  beauty  of  character  is  Miss 
Dora  Yu.  She  believed  that  God  had  called  her  to  speak 
for  him.  With  the  shyness  of  a  Chinese  woman,  in  re- 
gard to  public  speaking,  she  prayed  that  if  this  were  his 
will,  God  would  send  inquirers  to  her  house.  For  some 
time  she  continued  to  speak  to  the  many  who  came  to  her 
in  answer  to  this  prayer.  Gradually  she  gained  confi- 
dence for  a  wider  work.  She  speaks  several  Chinese  dia- 
lects and  perfect  English.  For  several  years  now  she  has 
spoken  not  only  among  the  Baptist  churches,  but  in  great 
interdenominational  meetings,  to  both  men  and  women. 
"  It  is  marvelous,"  says  Mr.  Foster,  "  while  woman  is  still 
a  chattel  in  China,  to  see  a  slight,  little  Chinese  woman  so 
speak  of  the  holiness  of  God  and  of  his  love  in  Christ  that 


THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA  167 

strong  men  break  down  and  weep,  and  confess  sins,  and 
make  restitution,  and  make  up  old  quarrels,  and  there- 
after show  a  wholly  different  spirit  in  their  living."  When 
she  spoke  before  the  boys  of  the  boarding-school  in  Kit- 
yang  the  entire  school  confessed  Christ  as  Saviour  and 
Lord.    Twenty  of  them  desire  to  become  preachers. 

Medical  Work.  There  are  eight  hospitals  and  five 
dispensaries  connected  with  Baptist  missions  in  China, 
and  a  medical  staff  of  twenty,  of  whom  eight  are  women. 
At  Hanyang,  Kityang,  Huchow,  and  Swatow,  there  are 
women's  hospitals,  or  wings  of  general  hospitals.  In 
Swatow  Dr.  Anna  K.  Scott,  now  seventy-five  years  old, 
is  in  charge  of  the  hospital.  This  wonderful  woman  has 
for  years  kept  this  hospital  open  and  maintained  her 
classes  for  the  training  of  Chinese  nurses,  when  she  was 
the  only  physician  in  the  hospital.  Her  granddaughter. 
Dr.  Mildred  Scott,  has  now  gone  to  her  aid.  There  is  no 
greater  need  in  China  than  the  reenforcement  and  en- 
largement of  hospital  work  among  women  and  children, 
the  most  suffering  and  neglected  classes  in  China.  For 
years  the  Josephine  Bixby  Hospital,  at  Kityang,  was 
unable  to  secure  a  woman  physician ;  and  now  there  is  a 
new  hospital  and  a  trained  nurse  in  Huchow,  but  no 
physician  ready.  Are  there  not,  somewhere  in  the  United 
States,  trained  medical  women  who  will  give  themselves 
to  this  beautiful  work? 

Baptists  are  entering  into  union  medical  work  in 
Nanking  with  Presbyterians,  Disciples  of  Christ,  and 
Methodists. 

Opportunity  Among  the  Hakkas.  A  hospital  at 
Hopo  is  a  pressing  need.    The  people  are  so  eager  to  have 


i68  FOLLOWING  THE  SUXRLSE 

a  hospital  that  they  have  gone  about  and  secured  contri- 
butions of  two  thousand  dollars  (gold)  toward  the  hos- 
pital building.  For  three  years  now  they  have  made  their 
appeal  in  vain  for  a  physician  and  for  a  building.  Bap- 
tists cannot  expect  them  to  wait  indefinitely,  and  must  be 
prepared  either  to  meet  the  needs  of  this  strategic  center 
of  Hakka  work,  or  to  turn  over  the  field  to  others 
who  will  meet  half-way  this  evidence  of  interest  and 
generosity. 

Insufficiency  of  Equipment.  When  one  thinks  of 
Doctor  and  Mrs.  Lesher,  of  Chaoyang,  both  fully  trained 
physicians,  trying  to  do  medical  work  with  neither  hos- 
pital or  dispensary,  of  Doctor  Eubank  trying  alone  to 
carry  on  the  heavy  hospital  work  at  Huchow,  and  of 
Doctor  Scott  alone  for  years  to  shoulder  the  burdens  at 
Swatow,  the  tremendous  needs  of  the  medical  service 
become  apparent.  One-third  of  the  hospital  expenditures 
are  now  raised  on  the  field,  and  the  work  will  become 
increasingly  self-supporting,  if  just  now  it  can  be  prop- 
erly begun.  "  One  physician  and  one  evangelist  cannot 
cope  successfully  with  a  population  of  two  millions  of 
people,"  says  Mr.  Wellwood,  of  West  China. 

A  New  Macedonian  Call.  While  not  one  of  the 
largest  Christian  bodies  in  China,  the  Baptists  are  grow- 
ing rapidly,  and  are  face  to  face  with  marvelous  possi- 
bilities. The  converts  of  the  Northern  and  Southern 
Baptists  number  13,200,  and  during  the  last  three  years 
have  been  growing  at  the  rate  of  a  thousand  a  year. 
These  poor  Chinese  Christians  gave  more  than  two  dol- 
lars each  in  1912  for  the  evangelization  of  China.  There 
are,  all  told,  278,628  Protestant  Christians  in  China.    The 


THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA  169 

church  is  doubling  once  in  seven  years.  This  infant 
church  will  need,  for  a  generation,  the  help  of  the  Chris- 
tians of  the  West,  if  it  is  to  win  China  for  Christ.  The 
multitudes  of  the  ignorant  must  be  schooled,  millions  of 
Bibles  circulated,  and  the  leaders  trained  and  enlightened. 
In  her  stupendous  task  the  Chinese  church,  as  though 
Christ  himself  besought,  beseeches  us  for  Jesus'  sake  to 
come  over  and  help  her.  Such  an  opportunity  can  never 
dawn  again.  The  hour  has  struck  for  the  most  mo- 
mentous advance  of  Christianity  since  Paul  crossed  into 
Macedonia.  Will  the  Church,  by  prayer  and  faith  and 
gifts  of  men  and  money,  rise  equal  to  the  opportunity? 
Or  will  Christ  once  more  weep  over  the  cities  of  rich 
America  as  he  did  over  Jerusalem? 


Facts  About  China 

Population    430,000,000 

Number  of  missionaries    S,I44 

Number   of    cities    and   towns    with    resident 

missionary 527 

Number  of  cities  and  towns  unoccupied i,444 

Percentage  of  cities  and  towns  occupied   ....  26% 

Four-fifths  of  provinces  of  Kan-su,  Yun-nan,  Kuei-chow,  and 
Kwang-si  absohitely  unreached. 

Within  140  miles  of  Canton  are  three  counties  with  10,000 
villages,  averaging  250  inhabitants,  where  no  missionary  or 
Chinese  preacher  has  ever  set  foot. 

The  boat  population,  numbering  millions,  is  without  workers. 

Aboriginal  tribes  of  the  southwest,  numbering  6,000,000,  almost 
wholly  untouched. 


I70  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Chinese   Protestant   Christians 324,890 

Average  number  of  population  to  each  mis- 
sionary      83,000 

Average  number  to  each  medical  missionary  1,400,000 

Medical  missionaries    308 

Contributions     of     Chinese     Christians     for 

church   work    $320,900.62 

Within  three  and  one-half  years  85  per  cent  of  opium  traffic 
has  been  destroyed. 

Three  of  the  members  of  the  cabinet  are  Christians. 
One-fifth  of  the  members  of  Parliament  are  Christians. 
The  China  Inland  Mission  has  1,000  missionaries. 


Baptist   Educ.\tional   Institutions   in   China 

Ashmore  Theological  Seminary,  Svvatow,  China.  W.  Ashmore, 
D.  D.,  president;  J.  M.  Foster,  D.  D.,  Rev.  G.  H.  Waters, 
and  native  teachers. 

The  seminary  is  the  outgrow^th  of  the  preachers'  classes  held 
by  the  late  Doctor  Ashmore.  The  building,  with  its  site,  was  a 
gift  from  Doctor  Ashmore  and  his  son.  About  thirty  are  now 
in  attendance.  The  new  building,  opened  in  1907,  occupies  a 
commanding  site  overlooking  the  Bay  of  Swatow. 

Swatow  Woman's  Bible  Training  School,  Swatow,  South  China. 
Miss  Edith  G.  Traver  and  native  teachers. 
About  forty  women  are  trained  here  annually,  some  of  whom 
go  out  as  Bible-women,  teachers,  and  matrons.  Wives  of  students 
at  the  seminary  will  share  the  advantages  of  this  school,  for 
which  a  new  building  is  now  being  provided. 

Shanghai  Baptist  Theological  Seminary.  F.  J.  White,  D.  D. 
(American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society),  president; 
Rev.  E.  F.  Tatum,  Rev.  James  B.  Webster  (Southern  Bap- 
tist Convention),  and  native  faculty. 


THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA  I7I 

Rev.  Horace  Jenkins,  D.  D.,  for  many  years  conducted  the 
theological  school  for  East  China  at  Shaohsing.  In  1908  this 
was  merged  into  the  union  institution  at  Shanghai.  The  college 
and  seminary  occupy  twenty-seven  acres  of  ground  along  the 
Whangpoo  River,  just  below  Shanghai. 

Theological  Training  School,  Chengtu,  West  China. 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Salquist,  who  had  been  in  charge,  this 
school  was  removed  to  Chengtu,  where  our  mission  now  co- 
operates with  other  denominations  in  theological  instruction. 

Shanghai  Baptist  College.  Rev.  F.  J.  White,  D.  D.  (American 
Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society),  president;  F.  C.  Mabee, 
M.  A.,  C.  H.  Westbrook,  Jr.,  Miss  L.  J.  Dahl,  and  native 
faculty. 

This,  our  first  college  in  China,  graduated  its  first  class  in  1913. 
Foundations  are  being  laid  for  an  institution  of  true  scholarly 
spirit  and  aim.  The  college  occupies  the  same  compound,  and 
has  the  same  president  as  the  theological  seminary. 

West  China  Union  University,  Chengtu,  West  China.  Rev.  J. 
Taylor,  D.  S.  Dye,  representing  the  American  Baptist  For- 
eign Mission   Society. 

The  Friends  Foreign  Mission  Association  of  Great  Britain, 
the  Boards  of  the  Methodist  Church  of  Canada  and  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  of  the  United  States,  and  our  Society  cooperate 
in  this  institution.     The  preparatory  school  was  opened  in  igog. 

University  of  Nanking,  Nanking,  East  China.  N.  W.  Brown, 
M.  D.,  Rev.  C.  S.  Keen,  representing  the  American  Baptist 
Foreign  Mission  Society. 

Methodists,  Presbyterians,  Disciples  of  Christ,  and  Baptists 
cooperate  in  this  promising  institution,  which  has  nearly  five 
hundred  students.  Doctor  Brown  is  an  instructor  in  the  medical 
department,  and  Mr.  Keen  is  dean  of  the  language  school  for 
missionaries. 


172  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

South  China  Baptist  Academy,  Swatow,  China.  Rev.  R.  T. 
Capcn,  principal;  Rev.  A.  11.  Page. 

Work  of  both  academic  and  college  grades  is  now  being  de- 
veloped on  the  South  China  held.  The  boys  are  applying  them- 
selves with  intensity  to  the  mastery  of  the  higher  branches  of 
Western  learning. 

Wayland  Academy,  Hangchow,  China.     P.  R.  Moore,  principal. 

Since  the  establishment  of  Wayland  in  1900,  it  has  enjoyed  the 
favor  of  the  Chinese  of  Hangchow,  and  the  sons  of  some  of 
the  leading  gentry  are  receiving  their  education  there. 

Munroe  Academy,  Suifu,  China.  Rev.  I.  B.  Clark,  principal ; 
C.  L.  Foster. 

Schools  of  modern  and  Christian  learning  are  in  the  first 
stages  of  formation  in  West  China;  but  all  the  missions  have 
adopted  a  uniform  system  of  grading,  which  will  lead  to  effective 
and  harmonious  development  of  the  school  system. 

Swatow  Girls'  School,  Swatow,  South  China.  Miss  Maude  E. 
CrufF. 

This  high  grade  school  has  recently  added  a  new  building  to 
its  equipment.     It  has  over  eighty  pupils. 

Hangchow  Union  Girls'  School.  Miss  Mary  A.  Nourse,  Miss 
Martha  Daisy  Woods,  representing  the  Woman's  Baptist 
Foreign  Missionary  Societies. 

This  school  represents  the  consolidation  of  the  three  schools 
formerly  conducted  by  the  Presbyterian  Board,  North,  the 
Presbyterian  Board,  South,  and  the  Baptist  Society,  North. 
The  union  was  put  into  effect  February,  1912,  and  the  school 
opened  with  an  enrolment  of  147.  Although  the  aim  is  to  do 
only  high  school,  normal,  and  college  work,  yet  for  the  present 
primary  and  grammar  school  pupils  are  received.     Negotiations 


THE  CHANCE  IN  CHINA  173 

have  been  opened  for  the  purchase  of  a  new  site  for  the  school, 
and  it  is  expected  that  the  initial  capital  will  soon  be  required 
for  a  site  and  school  buildings. 


China  Baptist  Publication  Society,  Canton,  South  China.  R. 
E.  Chambers,  D.  D.,  Rev.  Jacob  Speicher,  general  secretaries. 
The  Society  was  formed  in  1899  as  an  independent  organization, 
but  its  property  is  now  owned  jointly  by  the  Foreign  Mission 
Board  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention  and  the  American 
Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society,  the  press  being  conducted 
under  the  management  of  a  Board  of  Directors  representing  the 
missionaries  of  the  two  societies  and  the  Chinese  constituency. 


Bibliography 

Broomhall,  The  Chinese  Empire.     New  York,  Revell,   1907. 

A  general  and  missionary  survey  that  will  give  the  modern 
data  by  provinces. 

Headland,    China's   New   Day.      Central    Committee    on    United 
Study  of  Missions,  1912. 
A  study  of  events  that  have  led  to  its  coming. 
Brown,  The  Chinese  Revolution.     New  York,  Student  Volunteer 
Movement,  1912. 

Burton,  The  Education  of  Women  in  China.    New  York,  Revell, 

1911. 
Ross,  Changing  Chinese.    New  York,  Century  Company,  1912. 

The  conflict  of  oriental  and  Western  cultures  in  China. 
Cantlie,  Sun  Yat  Sen  and  the  Awakening  of  China.     New  York, 

Revell,  1912. 
Merriam,  History  of  American  Baptist  Missions.     Chapters  XV 

and   XVI. 
Missions  in  China.     Boston,  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission 

Society,  1907. 


174  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

China  Mission   Year  Book,   1910-1912.     New   York,   Missionary 
Education  Movement. 
Its  chapters  upon  many  features  touched  upon  in  this  chapter 

should  be  freely  consulted. 

IVorld  Missionary  Conference,  1910  Rcf>orts:  I.  pp.  81-107,  Oc- 
cupation. Ill,  pp.  64-121,  247,  252,  Education.  IV,  pp. 
38-72. 

Speicher,  The  Conquest  of  the  Cross  in  China.  New  York, 
Revell,   1907. 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE 


M 


SOU-TMWESTPRN  PART  OF 

JAPAN  0am 

SutD  5c&le  as  M&la  Map 

V 

■^  "  uooki 


CHAPTER  VI 

IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE 

Transformation  of  Japan.  In  all  the  remarkable 
features  of  the  nineteenth  century,  none  was  more 
unbelievably  strange  than  the  rebirth  of  Japan.  In 
fifty  years  she  passed  from  a  medieval  and  feudal 
to  a  modern  and  industrial  civilization;  created  a 
constitutional  monarchy;  introduced  railways,  tele- 
graph, telephone;  established  a  postal  system  that 
had  a  perfected  free  rural  delivery  long  before  we 
attempted  one  in  the  United  States;  organized  a  pub- 
lic school  system,  free  and  compulsory,  that  developed 
a  whole  nation  of  newspaper  readers  in  one  genera- 
tion ;  built  up  an  army  and  navy  that  have  fought 
successfully  two  great  wars,  and  revolutionized  her 
industrial  system  by  the  wholesale  introduction  of 
steam  and  electricity  in  factory  production.  She 
captured  the  carrying  trade  of  the  Pacific,  elevated 
herself  out  of  isolation  into  a  position  among  the 
great  world  powers ;  provided  for  the  higher  educa- 
tion of  her  youth  in  government  universities,  some  of 
them  numbering  from  four  to  nine  thousand  students, 
introduced  the  practice  of  modern  medicine  into  hos- 
pitals, dispensaries,  and  training  schools.  In  short, 
in  the  space  of  a  half-century  Japan  changed  the  em- 
phasis   or    reversed    the    view-point    in    almost    every 

177 


178  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

feature  of  her  national  life.  Yet  there  are  those  who 
think  that  the  Japanese  are  a  bit  inclined  to  be  con- 
ceited. 

Perry's  Expedition.  Every  school  child  to-day 
knows  of  the  great  importance  of  the  American  ex- 
pedition under  Commodore  Perry  in  1853  in  opening 
Japan  to  intercourse  with  the  modern  world.  It  is 
amusing  to  note  the  very  different  estimate  placed 
upon  the  expedition  by  contemporaries.  The  Phila- 
delphia "  Ledger  "  doubted  whether  there  were  money 
in  the  treasury  for  the  Administration  to  pursue  such 
a  romantic  notion.  The  Baltimore  "  Sun,"  two  days 
before  the  sailing  of  the  expedition,  remarked :  "  It 
will  sail  about  the  same  time  with  Rufus  Porter's 
aerial  ship  " ;  and  after  the  sailing  insisted  on  "  aban- 
doning this  humbug,  for  it  has  become  a  matter  of 
ridicule  abroad  and  at  home."  So  little  did  the  great 
newspapers  appreciate  this  great  project  of  American 
statesmanship.  London  newspapers  were  not  more 
discerning.  The  London  "  Times  "  doubted  "  whether 
the  Emperor  of  Japan  would  receive  Commodore 
Perry  with  more  indignation  or  more  contempt."  The 
London  "  Sun  "  said :  "  For  ourselves  we  look  for- 
ward to  the  result  with  some  such  interest  as  we 
might  suppose  would  be  awakened  were  a  balloon  to 
soar  off  to  one  of  the  planets  under  the  direction  of 
an  experienced  aeronaut." 

Christianity's  Part  in  the  Process.  Christianity 
and  the  Christian  missionary  will  be  found  wrought 
into  the  very  foundation  of  these  changes.  It  was 
Guido    Verbeck    who    suggested    and    helped    to    or- 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  179 

ganize  the  imperial  embassy  which  went  around  the 
world  in  1871.  Moreover,  more  than  half  of  the  men 
selected  by  the  mikado  to  make  this  world  survey 
Avere  former  pupils  of  Verbeck.  The  first  Japanese 
dictionary  on  which  were  to  be  based  the  treaties  with 
Western  government,  was  the  monumental  work  of 
another  missionary,  Doctor  Hepburn,  who  was  also 
the  pioneer  in  introducing  modern  medicine  into 
Japan.  Of  Dr.  S.  R.  Brown  it  has  been  said,  that  he 
was  the  teacher  and  inspirer  of  men  who  became  the 
teachers  and  inspirers  of  new  Japan. 

A  Providential  Preparation.  In  fact,  back  of  the 
apparently  sudden  opening  of  Japan  to  foreign  inter- 
course, is  a  long  and  thrilling  story  of  providential 
preparation.  At  a  time,  for  example,  when  it  was  a 
capital  offense  for  a  Japanese  subject  to  emigrate, 
and  when,  if  a  subject,  either  by  shipwreck  or  acci- 
dent, had  been  driven  away  from  his  native  land,  he 
might  never  return  home,  there  were  some  Japanese 
waifs  who  were  found  in  captivity  to  the  Indians  in 
the  Oregon  country.  They  were  ransomed  by  Chris- 
tian men,  and  since  they  could  not  be  returned  to 
their  own  home,  were  sent  to  China.  Here  they 
taught  the  Japanese  language  to  Dr.  S.  Wells  Wil- 
liams, who  was  thus  enabled  to  become  the  interpreter 
to  Commodore  Perry,  when  the  American  Navy 
opened  Japan  to  intercourse  with  the  world. 

An  Influential  Conference.  It  was  this  same  Chi- 
nese missionary.  Doctor  Williams,  who  in  1837  took 
passage  for  Japan  on  the  American  ship  "  Morrison," 
in  the   hope  of  gaining  entrance  into  that  country, 


i8o  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

only  to  be  driven  away  by  the  batteries  in  Yeddo  Bay. 
He  and  two  chaplains  of  the  American  Navy  talked 
together  in  1858  at  the  one  Japanese  port  open  to 
foreigners,  the  Dutch  Settlement  at  Nagasaki.  After 
this  conference  the  two  men,  believing  that  the  day 
was  about  to  dawn  for  the  planting  of  Christianity  in 
Japan,  wrote  letters  to  their  Missionary  Boards  in  the 
homeland,  urging  the  sending  out  of  missionaries  to 
Japan.  As  a  result  of  these  letters  the  five  pioneer 
missionaries  were  sent  out  to  Japan :  Liggins,  Wil- 
liams, Hepburn,  Brown,  and  Verbeck.  These  reached 
Japan  within  a  few  months  of  one  another,  and  for 
ten  years  constituted  the  advance  guard  of  Christian- 
ity. They  represented  the  Protestant  Episcopal,  the 
Presbyterian,  and  the  Dutch  Reformed  churches. 

Forerunners  in  America.  An  even  more  remark- 
able preparation  for  the  opening  of  Japan  to  Chris- 
tianity was  made  by  a  group  of  Christian  women  in 
America.  A  circle  of  women  was  accustomed  to  meet 
to  sew  and  pray  for  missions  in  Brookline,  ]\Iassachu- 
setts.  While  meeting  one  day  at  the  home  of  Mrs. 
William  Ropes,  their  interest,  it  is  said,  was  attracted 
to  Japan  by  a  curiously  wrought  basket  which  had 
been  brought  over  in  one  of  Mr.  Ropes'  ships.  As 
the  women  handled  the  delicate  thing  and  realized 
that  the  country  where  it  was  made  was  absolutely 
closed  to  the  gospel  of  Jesus,  their  hearts  were  drawn 
out  to  pray  that  Japan  might  be  opened.  For  years, 
while  Japan  was  fast  closed  and  a  price  was  set  on 
the  head  of  one  who  should  be  even  suspected  of  har- 
boring a  Christian,  these  far-away  American  women 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  i8i 

met  regularly  to  pray  for  Japan.  When  they  prayed 
they  gave  gifts  to  be  used  in  Japan  when  their  pra3'ers 
should  be  answered.  Before  the  little  group  had  scat- 
tered during  the  passage  of  the  years,  they  had  paid 
into  the  treasury  of  the  Congregational  missionary 
society,  the  American  Board,  over  six  hundred  dol- 
lars designated  for  Japan.  Before  the  time  came 
when  the  Board  could  enter  the  field,  this  sum  had 
amounted,  with  interest,  to  four  thousand,  one  hundred 
and  four  dollars  and  twenty-three  cents. 

Baptist  Pioneers.  While  American  Baptists  were 
not  among  the  first  who  sent  out  missionaries  in  1859, 
they  had  a  representative  among  the  marines  on  Com- 
modore Perry's  flagship  in  1855,  Jonathan  Goble  by 
name,  a  real  Yankee  character.  While  he  was  not 
at  all  the  type  that  one  would  select  for  a  pioneer 
missionary,  it  was  his  absorbing  interest  in  foreign 
missions  which  had  impelled  him  to  join  the  expedi- 
tion in  the  hope  of  gaining  an  opportunity  to  look 
over  the  possibilities  of  Japan  as  a  mission  field.  He 
undoubtedly  used  his  shrewd  eyes  to  good  advantage, 
and  when  he  returned  home  with  the  expedition  he 
took  with  him  a  Japanese  sailor  who  had  been  res- 
cued from  the  sea.  This  waif,  who  was  later  baptized 
in  Doctor  Coble's  home  church,  at  Hamilton,  New 
York,  was  so  far  as  is  known  the  first  convert  of 
modern  Protestant  missions  to  the  Japanese. 

The  Services  of  Jonathan  Goble.  When  we  next 
hear  of  him,  the  carpenter  sailor  has  become  Rev. 
Jonathan  Goble,  and  in  1860  has  returned  to  Japan 
with  his  wife  as  the  first  missionary  of  the  American 


i82  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Baptist  Free  Mission  Society,  a  body  organized  and 
supported  by  abolitionists.  Although  foreigners  were 
permitted  to  reside  in  the  port  cities  of  Japan,  anti- 
foreign  feeling  was  still  very  strong,  and  it  was  possi- 
ble to  do  little  open  or  aggressive  Christian  work. 
Mr.  Goble  seems  to  have  worked  at  his  trade  while 
making  a  translation  of  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  into 
colloquial  Japanese,  the  first  portion  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment to  be  printed  in  Japan.  The  work  was  neces- 
sarily imperfect  and  was  circulated  under  difficulties, 
and  with  a  great  deal  of  secrecy.  Perhaps  Jonathan 
Goble  will  be  longest  remembered  by  his  invention 
of  the  jinrikisha,  an  institution  so  interwoven  with 
all  our  associations  with  Japan  that  it  is  difficult  to 
believe  that  it  was  invented  a  bare  half-century  ago  by 
an  obscure  American  Baptist  missionary. 

Lost  at  Sea.  The  Southern  Baptists  about  this 
time  sent  out  two  men  and  their  wives,  who  sailed 
from  New  York  in  the  "  Edwin  Forrest "  and  were 
never  heard  from  again.  When  the  records  of  the 
kingdom  are  made  plain  these  sealed  orders  of  the 
King  may  be  understood.  Surely,  they  who  went 
down  with  the  ship  in  some  unknown  sea  were  his 
messengers,  living  or  dying,  and  He  who  had  accepted 
their  consecration  of  life  could  make  their  service  not 
in  vain  with  the  Lord. 

Northern  Baptists  Enter  the  Field.  In  1872,  the 
very  year  that  the  antichristian  edict  boards  were 
removed  from  the  street-corners  of  Japan,  the  North- 
ern Baptists  began  their  Japan  IVIission.  The  Free 
Mission,  before  alluded   to,  wound   up   its   affairs   and 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  183 

turned  over  its  mission  to  the  Northern  Baptists,  who 
appointed  Rev.  Nathan  Brown  and  Rev.  Jonathan 
Goble  as  their  first  missionaries.  The  latter  termi- 
nated his  connection  with  the  mission  shortly  after- 
ward, so  that  Doctor  Brown  is  rightly  regarded  as  the 
founder  of  Baptist  work  in  the  Empire.  The  life-story 
of  Nathan  Brown  is  a  romance.  He  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  one  of  the  pioneer  missionaries  in  Assam,  the 
friend  of  Judson  and  of  Miles  Bronson. 

Doctor  Brown  in  Japan.  To  this  veteran  mission- 
ary, after  eighteen  years  in  the  homeland,  there  came 
the  call  from  God  to  go  once  more  as  a  pioneer  to  a  new 
land  and  to  learn  an  unknown  tongue.  Those  who  be- 
lieved that  his  genius  for  language  might  be  of  service 
in  the  opening  years  of  the  Japan  Mission  little  ex- 
pected that  this  worn  veteran,  then  sixty-six  years  old, 
would  live  to  see  thirteen  years  of  fruitful  service  in 
Japan.  According  to  the  bent  of  his  genius  he  gave 
himself  to  the  acquisition  of  the  language  with  an  al- 
most uncanny  ability.  When  it  is  remembered  the  Jap- 
anese is  regarded  as  perhaps  the  most  difficult  language 
in  the  entire  mission  field,  his  accomplishment  seems 
little  less  than  miraculous.  As  soon  as  his  own  severe 
canons  of  scholarship  would  permit,  he  began  to  trans- 
late and  to  write  hymns  for  the  Japanese  as  he  had  for 
the  Assamese. 

Translation  of  the  New  Testament.  The  crown- 
ing work  of  his  life  was  the  publication  in  1879  of  the 
first  translation  of  the  entire  New  Testament  into 
Japanese.  This  version,  although  later  superseded  in 
popular  use   by  that  of   the   Union   Committee,   has 


i84  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

always  held  a  high  position  among  scholars.  Said 
Prof.  E.  W.  Clement,  himself  a  most  accomplished 
Japanese  scholar:  "The  version  does  not  enjoy  a  wide 
circulation,  but  it  is  generally  acknowledged  to  be 
clearer,  simpler,  and  more  in  harmony  with  the  original 
than  is  the  other  translation."  Is  it  not  a  pity  that  the 
unhappy  sectarian  divisions  of  Christendom  with  re- 
gard to  the  translation  of  mooted  terms  should  have 
deprived  the  infant  Japanese  church  of  the  full  benefit 
of  the  work  of  this  great  translator? 

Death  of  Doctor  Brown.  When  the  old  man  fell 
asleep  in  Yokohama  in  1886,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
nine,  he  was  beloved  by  the  Japanese  as  one  of  their 
very  own.  Like  the  aged  apostle  John,  with  his  ever- 
repeated  "  Little  children,  love  one  another,"  the  old 
missionary  summed  up  the  passion  of  his  life  in  one 
reiterated  prayer,  carved  later  on  his  tombstone :  "  God 
bless  the  Japanese." 

Women  Pioneers.  Only  two  years  after  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  mission,  the  Woman's  Baptist  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  sent  out  as  its  first  missionaries 
two  w^omen  whose  names  are  woven  into  the  very 
heart  of  the  mission :  Miss  Clara  Sands  (Mrs.  J.  C. 
Brand)  and  Miss  Anna  H.  Kidder.  A  few  months 
after  coming  to  Japan  Miss  Kidder  witnessed  the 
baptism  of  the  first  Japanese  woman  who  is  known 
to  have  made  confession  of  the  Christian  faith,  Uchida 
San,  first  of  a  long  procession  of  beautiful  Christian 
women  in  whom  lies  the  hope  of  the  new  Japan. 

Miss  Kidder's  Work.  Miss  Kidder  is  one  of  the 
spiritual  assets  of  the  denomination.     In  the  history 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  185 

of  the  school  which  she  founded  she  has  had  part  in 
the  whole  story  of  woman's  education  in  Japan.  It  is 
a  rather  interesting  coincidence  that  the  first  woman 
missionary  in  Japan  was  another  Miss  Kidder,  Miss 
Mary  E.  Kidder,  who  in  1869  founded  the  Ferris 
Seminary  for  girls  in  Yokohama.  Our  Miss  Kidder 
was  the  founder  of  the  Sarah  Curtis  Home  School  in 
Tokyo,  where  she  still  lives  and  works.  An  editorial 
appeared  recently  in  one  of  the  most  powerful  daily 
newspapers  published  in  Tokyo,  which  gives  some 
idea  of  the  veneration  with  which  Miss  Kidder  is  re- 
garded by  the  Japanese.  The  editorial  was  headed 
"  The  Incarnation  of  Love,"  and  proceeded  to  describe 
an  elderly  foreign  lady  in  simple  dress,  who  for  twenty 
years  had  been  accustomed  to  leave  money  with  the 
official  in  the  Kanda  Ward  office  in  Tokyo,  asking 
him  to  distribute  it  among  the  poor.  After  describing 
Miss  Kidder's  work  in  the  school,  the  editorial  con- 
cludes :  "  She  was  merciful  from  her  youth,  and  num- 
berless times  she  gave  to  the  poor  by  her  self-denial. 
.  .  She  is  very  humble,  and  avoids  social  circles; 
she  does  not  speak  or  preach  in  public.  Even  the 
school  founded  by  her  has  another's  name.  Only  once 
has  she  gone  back  to  her  homeland  during  these  forty 
years.  She  was  once  beautiful  as  a  flower,  but  has 
now  frost  in  her  hair.  She  says :  '  I  have  come  to 
love  Japan;  I  do  not  regret  offering  my  life  for  the 
loved  One.'  .  .  There  are  so  many  hypocrites  in  this 
world  that  it  makes  us  feel  good  to  know  of  this 
beautiful  story."  (The  editorial  from  which  this  quota- 
tion is  made  was  translated  for  "  Gleanings.") 


i86  FOLLOWLXG  THE  SUNRISE 

Educational  Work  of  Woman's  Boards.  Tlic  work 
committed  to  Baptist  women  in  Japan  has  been 
exceptionally  strong.  Four  boarding-schools  for  girls 
are  maintained:  at  Tokyo,  Yokohama  (Kanagawa), 
Himeji,  Sendai.  There  is  the  Bible  Training  School 
at  Osaka;  the  kindergartens  at  Morioka,  Tokyo,  Kobe, 
Naha,  in  the  Liuchiu  Islands;  the  Kindergarten  Train- 
ing School  in  Tokyo,  and  boarding  and  day-schools  for 
boys  and  girls  are  maintained  in  Tokyo,  Yokohama,  and 
Kobe. 

Importance  of  Schools  for  Girls.  It  is  rapidly  be- 
coming recognized  that  in  Japan,  as  elsewhere,  the 
problem  of  woman's  elevation  is  fundamental.  Hence 
these  schools  in  which  there  is  opportunity  for  Jap- 
anese girls  at  close  range  and  for  long  periods  to  see 
the  Christian  life  incarnated,  are  of  immeasurable 
importance.  It  is  the  peculiar  glory  of  Christianity 
that  it  cannot  be  communicated  in  terms  of  history, 
exposition,  doctrine,  creed,  or  catechism.  Like  its 
Founder,  it  must  take  on  flesh  and  tabernacle  among 
men.  The  social  ideals  of  Christianity  are  many  of 
them  revolutionary  to  Japanese  ideals  and  customs. 
They  can  become  controlling  in  the  nation  only  as 
they  become  naturalized  in  the  life  of  the  Japanese 
family.  Said  a  prominent  government  ofificial :  "  You 
missionary  ladies  have  done  a  vastly  greater  work 
for  Japan  than  you  ever  dreamed  of.  Our  government 
had  no  hope  of  success  in  establishing  girls'  schools 
until  we  were  inspired  by  your  successes."  The  thou- 
sands of  women  who  have  had  Christian  training  are 
helping  to  create  that  public  opinion  which  has  found 


MARY   L.    COLBY    SCHOOL   AT    KANAGAWA 


KINDERGARTEN    AT    MORIOKA 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  187 

expression  in  the  new  civil  code  of  Japan,  in  which 
the  word  concubine  does  not  appear. 

Advantages  of  the  Small  Boarding-School.  Criti- 
cism of  the  small  family  type  of  school,  to  which  most 
of  our  girls'  boarding-schools  in  Japan  belong,  is  some- 
times made  on  the  ground  of  their  necessarily  high 
cost.  But  when  it  is  remembered  that  since  Sendai 
was  opened  but  one  girl  has  been  graduated  without 
open  confession  of  her  faith,  that  in  Himeji  twenty- 
seven  conversions  were  recorded  in  one  year,  and  that 
in  all  of  the  schools  it  is  the  single  aim  and  confident 
expectation  that  each  girl  shall  be  an  out-and-out 
Christian,  the  cost  seems  not  so  high.  The  testimony 
of  a  leader  in  a  recent  senior  class  is  in  point.  She 
said  that  long  ago  she  had  made  a  great  resolve  never 
to  become  a  Christian.  She  had  been  in  another  large 
mission  school  for  a  time,  and  when  she  came  to  the 
small  Baptist  school  she  was  for  the  first  time  brought 
into  contact  with  a  new  atmosphere,  an  indefinable 
something  which  the  Christian  girls  had  and  she  had 
not.  The  Bible  too  was  taught  in  Japanese  instead 
of  in  English,  as  heretofore.  And  this,  she  said,  made 
it  more  real  to  her.  At  last  the  kindness  and  evident 
interest  of  her  classmates  and  the  wonderful  Christian 
atmosphere  of  the  place  brought  her  to  a  vital  personal 
experience  of  Christ. 

What  Japanese  Schoolgirls  Do.  The  work  done 
by  these  Christian  schoolgirls  in  the  boarding-schools 
is  an  inspiration.  The  girls  of  the  school  in  Sendai 
conduct  fifteen  Sunday-schools  each  Sunday.  They 
have  a  teachers'  training  class,  visit  in  the  homes,  and 


i88  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

are  continually  striving  to  pass  on  the  blessings  of 
Christianity  to  non-Christian  people  around  them. 
Miss  Dithridge's  students  in  the  Kindergarten  Train- 
ing School  have  opened  a  "  Garden  of  Love  "  for  poor 
children  in  one  of  the  crowded  quarters  of  the  city. 
In  ten  days  they  enrolled  fifty  neglected  children. 
Among  Miss  Whitman's  girls  in  Tokyo  the  work  is 
done  in  four  Sunday-schools.  One  of  the  day  pupils 
has  a  Sunday-school  in  her  own  home,  with  thirty 
children  in  attendance.  The  Kanagawa  students  teach 
in  six  Sunday-schools.  In  Himeji  there  are  nineteen 
Sunday-schools  in  which  girls  from  the  boarding- 
school  are  doing  valiant  service  as  teachers.  In  fact, 
the  growth  of  recent  years  in  Sunday-school  work  in 
Japan  has  been  due  very  largely  to  the  work  of  the 
pupils  and  graduates  of  these  girls'  schools.  Sunday- 
school  membership  is  now  fourteen  thousand,  nearly 
three  times  as  great  as  is  the  membership  of  the 
churches. 

Kindergartens  as  Evangelizing  Agencies.  The 
kindergarten  has  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful evangelizing  agencies  in  Japan.  It  seems  to  fit  the 
genius  of  the  people.  The  little  children  open  doors 
for  Christ  that  no  other  hands  can  set  ajar.  This  fact 
is  beginning  to  find  recognition  in  the  homeland  also. 
The  pastor  of  one  of  the  largest  Baptist  churches  in 
the  United  States  has  recently  established  a  kinder- 
garten in  his  Sunday-school  building  during  week- 
days. He  says  that  the  hundred  or  more  children  of 
this  kindergarten  have  already  brought  many  recruits 
into  the  Sunday-school,  and  opened  many  homes  to 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  189 

the  visits  of  the  Sunday-school  missionary  that  were 
hitherto  inaccessible.  The  Christian  kindergarten, 
moreover,  has  a  peculiar  field  in  Japan.  There  is 
something  about  it,  a  power  to  transform  child-life, 
which,  according  to  the  frank  admission  of  officials, 
the  government  kindergartens  lack.  It  is  for  Ameri- 
can Christians  to  decide  whether  they  will  hold  the 
position  of  preeminence  already  gained  in  kindergarten 
work  by  adequately  equipping  the  schools  which  they 
have  established.  No  second-grade  work  in  any  depart- 
ment will  long  satisfy  the  Japanese. 

Story  of  Baptist  Kindergartens.  The  Baptist  kin- 
dergartens have  had  a  wonderful  history.  The  Zenrin 
kindergarten  was  located  by  Mrs.  Thomson  in  one  of 
the  most  notorious  sections,  not  only  in  Kobe,  but  in 
all  southwest  Japan.  Police  protection  had  to  be 
accorded  in  the  beginning.  Now  the  love  of  the 
transformed  neighborhood  is  its  best  protection,  and 
the  courteous  Japanese  officials  who  see  what  the  kin- 
dergarten has  done  are  its  firmest  friends.  Here  a 
double  kindergarten  is  held,  one  group  coming  in  the 
morning  and  another  in  the  afternoon.  In  addition 
to  the  kindergarten  proper,  there  are  the  mothers' 
meetings,  the  constant  visitation  in  the  homes,  the 
Friday  Club,  Mrs.  Watanabe's  interesting  class  among 
the  older  girls,  and  three  Sunday-schools.  Mrs.  Brand 
opened  the  Tsukiji  kindergarten  in  Tokyo  in  a  little, 
dark  building,  crowded  on  the  back  of  the  mission  lot 
between  servants'  quarters,  yet  she  soon  had  forty-six 
pupils  enrolled,  and  could  have  had  twice  that  num- 
ber had  there  been   room   for  them.     In   Morioka  the 


100  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

kindergarten  is  enlisting  support  of  the  leading  people 
of  the  place.  Many  of  these  pupils  are  able  to  pay 
full  tuition,  yet  are  willing  to  come  to  this  Christian 
kindergarten  where  the  children  of  government  officials 
and  the  children  of  the  people  sit  side  by  side.  The 
Morioka  kindergarten  has  done  such  beautiful  things. 
The  little  ones  have  gathered  flow^ers  for  the  hospitals, 
made  grape-juice  to  give  to  the  sick  at  Christmas, 
learned  the  delights  of  gardening,  and  have  been  led 
by  Mrs.  Topping's  gentle  teachings  to  think  of  the 
famine  sufferers  in  China.  She  said  that  when  she 
noted  that  the  Japanese  papers  made  no  mention  of 
the  thousands  dying  in  China,  she  felt  that  she  could 
not  allow  to  pass  the  opportunity  for  enlarging  the 
sympathies  of  the  children.  It  was  proposed  to  them 
that  they  forego  the  customary  Christmas  treat  and 
send  the  money  to  save  the  lives  of  starving  Chinese 
mothers  and  babies.  The  children  entered  into  this 
with  all  the  eagerness  of  their  loving  little  hearts. 
But  Mrs.  Topping  could  not  help  being  glad  when  an 
unexpected  Christmas  box  from  ladies  in  Cincinnati 
enabled  her  to  make  the  usual  treat  for  the  children 
at  Christmas  time. 

Kindergarten  Training  School.  The  Kindergarten 
Training  School  was  opened  in  Tokyo  October  2,  1911, 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  thorough  training  to  Jap- 
anese Christian  kindergarten  teachers.  The  school 
was  fortunate,  not  only  in  its  principal,  Harriet  Dith- 
ridge,  but  also  in  the  kindergarten  director,  Ishihara 
San,  a  cultivated  Japanese  girl,  who  had  received 
years  of  training  in  the  best  professional  schools  in 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  191 

the  United  States.  Miss  Dithridge  has  a  keen  appre- 
ciation of  the  tremendous  importance  of  this  work,  and 
a  big  vision  of  what  these  kindergartens  can  accomplish 
for  the  future.    She  says : 

We  ought  to  open  new  kindergartens  in  Tokyo.  In  the^ 
poor  districts  they  are  of  inestimable  value,  and  in  all 
neighborhoods  they  are  a  means  of  entrance  into  the 
homes  and  hearts  of  the  mothers.  Some  one  has  said 
that  the  kindergarten  is  in  Japan  what  the  doctor  is  to 
India  and  China.  If  this  be  true,  and  it  certainly  is,  why 
are  we  Baptists  so  far  behind  other  denominations  in 
recognizing  the  fact  and  acting  upon  it?  At  present,  mis- 
sion kindergartens  are  far  ahead  of  government  kinder- 
gartens educationally,  and  Japanese  teachers  and  workers 
recognize  that  fact.  Oh,  let  us  strike  now,  and  dot  this 
city  with  kindergartens.  Since  I  have  the  training  school 
girls  to  help,  I  ask  only  ninety  dollars  a  year  for  the 
teacher's  salary  in  each  kindergarten,  and  for  a  place  in 
which  to  hold  it.  How  I  wish  I  could  make  the  people  at 
home  realize  the  importance  of  the  kindergarten  in  Japan ! 

Possibilities  of  the  Kindergarten.  When  one  thinks 
of  the  marvelous  possibilities  of  the  kindergarten  in 
Japan,  of  the  hospitality  of  the  people  toward  it,  of 
its  proved  efficiency,  and  then  considers  the  meager 
equipment  and  inadequate  provision  with  which  the 
Christian  church  is  meeting  the  opportunity,  one  is 
reminded  of  the  remark  of  a  Japanese  street  urchin. 
He  had  attended  a  little  Sunday-school  and  playground 
maintained  by  one  of  the  missions  in  Tokyo.  One  of 
the  periodic  deficits  of  missionary  funds  compelled 
the  missionaries  to  shut  up  the  Sunday-school  and  the 
playground  because  they  could  not  pay  the  rent.     Half 

N 


192  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

wistfully,  the  little  chap   said,   "  I  wonder  if  Jesus   is 
getting  poor." 

Educational  Opportunity.  Except  in  the  kinder- 
garten, there  is  very  little  opportunity  for  primary 
education  in  Japan.  Most  people,  Christian  and  non- 
Christian,  send  their  children  to  the  public  schools. 
Hence  the  wide  evangelism  which  formerly  took  place 
through  school  children  no  longer  exists.  The  oppor- 
tunity to-day  is  in  the  boarding  and  secondary  schools. 
Here  the  Christian  church  is  not  awake  to  its  oppor- 
tunity. There  are  only  twelve  Christian  secondary 
schools  for  boys,  and  eleven  for  girls  in  all  Japan. 
Yet,  on  these  and  the  higher  schools  depend  the  hopes 
of  the  future  for  the  Japanese  church.  Doctor  Schneeder, 
principal  of  the  North  Japan  College,  at  Sendai,  says: 

The  Christian  schools  have  had  to  compete  with  a 
splendid  system  of  government  education.  They  have 
been  hampered  by  insufficient  support.  Yet,  in  spite  of  it 
all,  the  degree  of  success  that  Christianity  has  achieved  in 
Japan  must  be  ascribed  very  largely  to  the  direct  and 
indirect  work  of  the  Christian  schools. 

The  Edinburgh  Conference  report  finds  that  most  of 
the  able  Christian  readers  of  Japan  are  the  products  of 
mission  schools.  The  report  further  shows  that  these 
schools  have  powerfully  affected  the  tone  of  current  litera- 
ture in  Japan,  producing  novelists,  poets,  educators,  and 
editors  "  who  have  led  the  way  in  creating  a  new  litera- 
ture for  Japan,  a  literature  that  is  fast  familiarizing  the 
whole  nation  with  the  best  ideals  of  the  West,  and  the 
influence  of  which  upon  national  life  and  character  is 
simply  beyond  calculation." 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  193 

Duncan  Academy  Takes  Advance  Step.  In  view 
of  these  facts  it  is  encouraging  to  know  that  Baptist 
missions  in  Japan  have  taken  advanced  ground  in  re- 
gard to  Duncan  Academy,  the  splendid  school  for  boys 
in  Tokyo.  On  April  10,  1913,  a  union  was  formed 
with  the  Presbyterians,  who  also  have  a  fine  boys' 
school  in  Tokyo.  The  higher  departments  of  both 
schools  have  been  united  under  a  faculty  composed  of 
the  teachers  from  both  missions.  The  Presbyterian 
school  has  a  fine  location,  with  a  ten-acre  campus, 
beautiful  chapel,  dormitories,  and  school  buildings.  The 
Duncan  Academy  boys  will  have  the  advantages  of 
this  equipment,  and  the  faculty,  made  up  of  teachers 
from  the  two  schools,  will  be  exceedingly  strong. 
Both  Boards  will  save  expense  in  the  duplication  of 
buildings  and  equipment  necessary  in  building  up  two 
separate  schools.  The  union  school  too  will  have  far 
greater  prestige  and  influence  among  the  Japanese. 
The  preparatory  department  of  the  Baptist  Theologi- 
cal Seminary  is  also  cooperating  with  this  union 
higher  school.  Dean  Chiba,  of  the  seminary,  Profes- 
sors Tenny,  Sone,  Sasaki,  Yamaguchi,  Ishima,  and 
Gressitt  are  teaching  in  the  union  school.  It  is  hoped 
that  other  missions  that  are  maintaining  boys'  schools 
will  join  in  the  project,  so  that  this  may  be  the  founda- 
tion for  the  Christian  university  which  is  so  sorely 
needed  in  Japan.  There  is  not  a  Christian  college  in 
the  country  fully  equipped  to  compete  with  the  gov- 
ernment in  offering  equally  advanced  and  specialized 
courses  under  the  advantages  of  a  moral  and  Christian 
atmosphere. 


194  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Theological  Seminary,  Tlie  P.aptist  Theological 
Seminary  at  TokNo  is  pcrhai)s  the  most  important 
educational  enterprise  in  Baptist  missions  in  Japan, 
It  also  marks  an  advance  in  that  it  is  a  union  institu- 
tion, made  by  joining  the  two  theological  seminaries 
formerly  maintained  by  the  Northern  and  Southern 
Baptists.  The  Conference  of  Japanese  Baptists  has 
representation  on  the  Board  of  Trustees  equal  to  that 
granted  the  two  Missionary  Boards.  If  Japanese  pas- 
tors are  to  be  leaders,  it  is  absolutely  essential  that 
they  be  given  the  very  best  advantages  during  their 
years  of  preparation  for  the  Avork  of  the  Christian 
ministry. 

The  Islands  of  the  Pendant  Tassels,  Curving  south- 
west from  Japan  to  Formosa  stretches  the  archipelago 
of  little  islands,  known  as  the  Liuchiu,  or  Pendant 
Tassel  Islands.  The  name  signifies  that  at  one  time 
they  were  considered  a  fringe  on  the  edge  of  China's 
ample  robe  of  dominion.  After  some  centuries,  in 
which  the  people  tried  to  live  at  peace  with  their 
powerful  neighbors  by  paying  tribute  to  both  China 
and  Japan,  the  islands  were  formally  annexed  by  the 
Japanese  in  1878.  Commodore  Perry,  in  writing  of 
his  experiences  of  Japan,  said  that  he  had  never  seen 
people  whom  he  pitied  more  than  these  Liuchiu 
islanders,  crushed  as  they  had  been  between  two  for- 
eign despotisms.  Says  Doctor  Griffis :  "  Ground  be- 
tween the  two  millstones  of  their  foreign  masters  and 
the  native  aristocracy,  the  Liuchiuans  feared  the  Chi- 
nese, hated  the  Japanese,  and  groveled  before  their 
local    rulers."      It    is    interesting    to    remember    that 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  195 

Commodore  Perry  was  presented  two  inscribed  bells 
that  had  hung  centuries  before  in  some  Buddhist  mon- 
astery, and  that  the  musical  chime  of  one  of  these  still 
rings  through  the  halls  of  Wellesley  College. 

Introduction  of  Christianity.  It  was  quite  natural 
that  these  isolated  islands  should  be  strongholds  of 
conservatism  and  prejudice  against  foreigners.  The 
early  introduction  of  Christianity  was  attended  with 
such  difficulties  that  for  forty  years  no  attempt  was 
made  by  any  Board  to  carry  the  gospel  to  the  half- 
million  islanders  scattered  on  these  thirty-four  islands. 
The  pioneer  missionary  was  a  Dutchman,  sent  out  by 
a  few  English  naval  officers,  who  had  become  inter- 
ested in  the  islands.  He  met  with  the  most  polite 
and  stubborn  opposition.  If  he  distributed  tracts, 
officers  were  sent  to  follow  him,  and  with  true  Jap- 
anese politeness  to  return  to  him  the  tracts  in  a  neat 
little  parcel.  Even  the  very  money  he  used  was  not 
allowed  to  pass  into  circulation,  but  was  gathered  to- 
gether and  put  into  sacks.  When  Doctor  Bettleheim 
and  his  family  sailed  away  discouraged,  the  money 
was  dumped  on  board  their  vessel  in  order  that  the 
Christian  contagion  might  not  spread. 

The  Success  of  a  Japanese  Evangelist.  In  1891  the 
Baptist  missionary.  Rev.  R.  A.  Thomson,  of  Kobe,  be- 
came deeply  stirred  over  the  neglected  condition  of 
the  islands.  He  succeeded  in  interesting  a  Christian 
tourist,  Mrs.  Alexander  Allan,  of  Scotland,  to  make  a 
donation  with  which  to  begin  the  work.  A  Japanese 
evangelist  was  sent,  and  at  the  end  of  the  first  year 
he  had  baptized  eleven  converts  and  organized  the 


196  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

first  Baptist  church  at  Naha.  Since  that  day  a  steadily 
growing  work  has  been  maintained  by  the  Japanese 
pastor  and  evangehsts.  There  are  now  eight  hundred 
members,  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  of  whom  were 
baptized  in  1912.  The  people  seem  thirsting  for  God. 
The  Christians  go,  as  did  the  early  disciples,  from 
house  to  house,  carrying  the  glad  tidings.  One  of  the 
evangelists,  Mr.  Nishihara,  who  had  received  a  govern- 
ment pension  of  2,000  yen  ($1,000),  used  it  all  to  buy 
the  land  and  build  a  chapel  in  a  town  where  a  new 
church  was  to  be  planted.  The  first  year  after  that  he 
baptized  sixty-eight  believers  into  the  tiny  church. 

Activity  of  Liuchiuan  Women.  "  In  Liuchiu,"  says 
Miss  Lavinia  Mead,  "  the  wonderful  ingathering  of  the 
past  years  has  been  in  large  degree  the  fruit  of  the 
faithful  eflforts  of  the  women  of  the  Church.  Almost 
all  of  these  women  have  worked  without  salary  as 
volunteer  helpers.  In  this  they  have  caught  inspira- 
tion from  the  work  of  that  indefatigable  Bible-woman, 
Mrs.  Haragachi,  who  has  led  them  to  the  true  source 
of  the  inspiration  for  service."  One  of  these  women 
was  the  wife  of  the  pastor  mentioned  above.  She  was 
so  eager  to  get  Bible  training  that,  with  the  full  con- 
sent of  her  husband,  she  exiled  herself  from  her  family 
for  two  years  of  training  in  the  Osaka  Bible  School. 
On  the  recent  return  of  Mrs.  Nishihara  to  her  happy 
husband  and  children,  she  sent  back  to  fill  her  place 
in  the  school  a  bright  and  energetic  young  woman 
from  the  islands,  who  expects  to  continue  in  this  apos- 
tolic succession  of  Bible-women  who  are  bearing  the  light 
into  the  Liuchiu  Islands. 


THE    NEW   GOSPEL   SHIP   IN    JAPAN 


WASEDA   DORMITORY    STUDENTS   AT   TOKYO 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  197 

Unique  Work  on  the  Inland  Sea.  In  one  respect 
surely  the  Baptists  may  claim  preeminence  in  mis- 
sionary work  in  Japan.  They  may  not  have  the  most 
numerous  body  of  believers,  nor  the  largest  and  best 
equipped  schools,  but  they  have  the  most  picturesque, 
useful,  and  best  managed  evangelistic  mission  in 
Japan,  in  the  "  Fukuin  Maru,"  the  gospel  ship  of  the 
Inland  Sea.  What  could  be  more  picturesque  than 
the  setting  of  the  mission  in  the  famed  Inland  Sea  of 
Japan,  a  land-locked  archipelago,  between  the  large 
southern  islands  of  the  Empire?  Travelers  grow  weary 
trying  to  depict  the  beauties  of  this  sea,  with  its  clus- 
tering wooded  islands,  its  mountain  backgrounds,  its 
quaint  little  villages  perched  on  hilly  summits,  its 
swift  tides,  and  slow  sailing-craft.  Up  and  down  the 
length  of  this  inland  sea,  daring  all  the  dangers  of  the 
leaping  tides  that  swirl  through  the  narrow  channels, 
goes  the  white-winged  "  Fukuin  Maru  "  with  her  mis- 
sionary skipper.  Captain  Luke  Bickel,  and  her  Jap- 
anese crew. 

Parish  of  the  "  Fukuin  Maru."  Surely  no  mission 
could  be  more  useful.  Here  is  a  heavy  population 
scattered  on  many  hundreds  of  islands,  practically  un- 
touched by  the  impact  of  Christianity  when  Captain 
Bickel  began  his  first  cruise  in  1899.  These  people  in 
isolated  hamlets  could  be  reached  only  by  boat  or  by 
rough  mountain  paths  from  village  to  village.  They 
represented  the  intrenched  conservatism  of  the  Jap- 
anese. 

Reaching  Japan's  Rural  Population.  The  "  Fukuin 
Maru  "  has  been  one  of  the  agencies  which  have  brought 


198  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

into  clear  relief  what  is  now  recognized  as  the  strategic 
c)j)ening  in  Japan,  Ciiristian  work  among  the  country 
people.  Because  of  the  restrictions  that  confined 
foreign  residence  to  the  treaty  port,  it  has  quite  nat- 
urally come  about  that  most  of  the  missionary  forces 
were  concentrated  from  early  days.  Sixty  per  cent 
of  all  Protestant  missionaries  are  found  in  the  eight 
largest  cities,  yet  three-fourths  of  the  population  of 
Japan  is  found  outside  the  cities,  in  small  towns  and 
farm-villages.  If  Christianity  is  to  permeate  Japanese 
society,  the  laborers,  the  fishermen,  the  farmers,  and 
the  artisans  must  be  reached.  When  Captain  Bickel 
undertook  his  labors  in  these  untouched  fields  the 
outlook  was  believed  to  be  so  discouraging  that  he 
himself  said  that  he  was  willing  and  prepared  to  work 
for  ten  years  without  apparent  results.  The  unex- 
pectedly encouraging  fruit  of  his  labors  has  strength- 
ened the  courage  of  all  those  missionaries  in  Japan 
who  believe  that  the  next  advance  must  be  in  the  coun- 
try districts. 

The  Guiding  Principles  of  Captain  Bickel's  Work. 
In  speaking  of  the  "  Fukuin  Maru  "  recently,  a  mis- 
sionary of  another  denomination,  himself  an  evangel- 
istic missionary  of  note,  said  that  he  regarded  the 
work  of  Captain  Bickel  as  the  most  significant  piece 
of  evangelism  being  done  to-day  in  Japan,  the  best 
organized  and  most  promising  of  permanent  results. 
That  this  great  tribute  was  not  imadvised  will  become 
evident  on  studying  the  fixed  principles  upon  whicii 
that  work  was  founded.  It  has  been  farthest  from 
that  type  of  evangelism  which  consists  of  merely  itin- 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  199 

crating  the  country,  speaking  to  the  drifting  crowds 
which  curiosity  brings  together;  that  casual  seed-sow- 
ing which  invites  the  birds  of  the  air  to  snatch  up  the 
precious  seed.  Captain  Bickel  set  for  himself  five 
principles :  Comity,  thoroughness,  democracy,  organi- 
zation, responsibility.  (1)  He  built  on  no  man's 
foundation,  and  never  entered  a  location  in  which 
another  denomination  was  at  work.  (2)  He  planned 
to  visit  every  village  of  every  island  entered,  with 
such  persistence  that  entrance  should  be  obtained, 
(3)  In  presenting  Jesus  Christ  he  recognized  no  dis- 
tinctions of  caste  or  class.  (4)  He  divided  the  islands 
into  groups,  stationed  an  evangelist  in  each  group, 
and  made  him  responsible  for  all  work  carried  on  in 
the  group.  (^5)  He  limited  rigidly  the  number  of  paid 
workers  in  each  group,  and  steadily  sought  to  throw 
the  responsibility  for  lay  evangelism  upon  each  mem- 
ber of  the  Church. 

Originality  of  These  Principles.  Some  of  these  prin- 
ciples were  contrary  to  precedent  and  custom.  For 
example,  it  has  been  a  missionary  custom  to  await  an 
invitation  for  opening  before  beginning  new  work. 
Quicker  results  could  have  been  secured  in  this  way, 
but  not  that  broad  foundation  for  the  transformation 
of  an  entire  community  or  province.  Again,  the  re- 
ligious training  of  the  Japanese  had  led  them  to  regard 
all  religious  activity  as  professional,  hence  it  is  very 
difficult  to  make  the  individual  church-member  realize 
that  he  is  to  be  a  sharer  in  the  work  of  spreading  the 
gospel.  "  Believers  they  thought  should  be  believers, 
and  teachers  be  teachers." 


200  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

EfBcacy  of  the  Principles.  These  principles  are 
proving  tlicir  soundness  for  a  much  wider  application 
than  that  made  by  Captain  Bickel.  The  splendid 
method  too,  of  the  mission  is  an  inspiration  and  a  chal- 
lenge to  all  evangelistic  missionaries.  Captain  Bickel 
has  an  orderly  sequence  of  topics  to  be  presented,  a 
selection  of  truths  to  be  emphasized.  God,  man,  sin, 
the  Saviour,  are  the  four  great  truths  emphasized  by 
such  orderly  presentation  that  as  the  evangelist  fol- 
lows up  his  first  message  by  his  second  the  mind  of 
the  hearer  is  prepared  to  receive  it.  Why  should  there 
not  be  a  science  of  evangelism?  Not  only  is  there  this 
orderly  presentation  of  the  message,  there  is  also  a 
splendid  system  of  following  it  up  by  letters,  litera- 
ture, and  visits  to  scattered  disciples  that  keeps  up  a 
close,  personal  touch  with  the  whole  field.  This  is 
not  working  in  the  dark,  but  in  the  light  of  a  method 
as  well  considered  as  is  that  which  the  best  business 
house  demands  of  its  employees,  but  which  the  King's 
business,  alas,  does  not  always  secure. 

Fascinating  Development  of  the  Work.  How  fas- 
cinating has  been  the  development  of  the  work !  The 
stanch  sailing-vessel,  the  gift  of  Mr.  R.  S.  Allan,  the 
Scotch  ship-builder,  in  memory  of  his  mother,  has  been 
replaced  by  a  larger  steam  vessel.  This  shortens  the 
time  of  the  trips  and  enlarges  the  field  of  the  visits. 
There  is  also  a  little  steam  launch  which  can  penetrate 
where  the  larger  vessel  cannot  go,  and  which  does 
away  with  the  necessity  of  long  mountain  tramps  to 
reach  the  more  isolated  hamlets.  Then  there  is  the 
little  "  Fukuin  INIaru,  Number  Two,"  built  in  Japanese 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  201 

style  and  used  in  colportage  work.  Her  very  building 
is  the  outward  evidence  of  a  miracle-working  conver- 
sion. The  Japanese  colporter,  who  uses  the  little  ves- 
sel to  go  in  advance  into  every  section  whither  the 
gospel  ship  itself  will  come  later,  is  a  living  letter, 
breathing  the  power  of  the  living  gospel. 

The  Regeneration  of  Hirata  San.  Hirata  San  was  a 
thorough  reprobate,  the  coxswain  of  the  crew  of  the 
*'  Fukuin  Maru."  "  His  crafty  eyes,"  says  Captain 
Bickel,  "  looked  straight  in  the  direction  of  the  eight 
cardinal  points  of  the  compass  all  at  once.  He  had 
one  virtue;  he  was  cheerfully,  openly  evil.  He  gam- 
bled, stole,  and  lied  by  preference,  drank  heavily,  and 
loved  to  fight.  All  this  he  did — and  worse.  Man  has 
a  soul,  they  say;  we  tried  to  find  his  for  two  years, 
but  never  got  a  glimpse.  .  .  Then  something  hap- 
pened. He  began  to  inquire,  but  how?  Ignorant  to 
the  extent  of  not  being  able  to  read  or  write  the  sim- 
ple Japanese  Kana  alphabet,  morally  crooked  in  all 
his  ways — was  there  any  hope  of  his  being  changed? 
We  did  not  believe  him  sincere  then,  nor  did  we  later 
when  he  professed  faith  in  Christ.  We  refused  bap- 
tism, but  there  was  a  change,  a  change  at  last,  slight 
indeed,  but  growing  in  force  continually,  until  the 
man  became  completely  new.  No  figure  of  speech,  no 
saintly  cant  is  this,  but  hard,  solid  fact.  He  was 
changed  from  a  gambling,  lying,  thieving,  quarrel- 
some, ignorant  tool  of  the  Evil  One  into  a  true  child 
of  God.  He  pored  over  the  old  Book  of  books  in  every 
spare  moment.  And  so  we  left  him  to  God's  Spirit. 
The  harsh  hands  became  gentle,  the  pride  of  other 


202  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

clays  became  loving  humility  that  would  not  be  re- 
fused, the  shrewdnes  of  evil  times  turned  to  a  re- 
markable thoughtfulness  and  resourcefulness  in  find- 
ing ways  of  service."  So  the  new  Hirata  San,  like 
the  man  whom  the  people  found  clothed  and  in  his 
right  mind  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  goes  everywhere  tell- 
ing his  own  friends  how  great  things  the  Lord  has 
done  for  him  and  how  he  has  had  compassion  on  him. 

Magnitude  of  the  Work.  Four  hundred  towns  and 
villages  are  now  on  the  ship's  visiting  list.  These 
are  divided  into  four  groups,  with  a  Japanese  convert 
in  charge  of  each.  There  are  forty  organized  Sunday- 
schools,  two  of  them  held  in  Buddhist  temples,  and 
one  in  the  temple  of  the  sailors'  god,  Ebeshi  Sama. 
There  are  two  kindergartens,  many  mothers'  meet- 
ings, night-schools,  week-day  Bible  classes,  traveling 
libraries,  and  a  monthly  magazine,  which  goes  to  the 
scattered  Christians  hidden  in  the  tiny  villages. 

Stories  of  Individual  Converts.  Oh,  the  life  stories 
hidden  away  among  these  island  Christians !  There 
was  the  honored  school  principal,  for  example,  who 
was  dismissed  from  his  position  and  disowned  by  his 
family  because  of  his  baptism.  Then  followed  weeks 
in  which  none  would  give  him  work.  One  morning 
he  cheerfully  took  a  pedler's  pack  on  his  back  and 
started  out  to  sell  paper,  pencils,  and  the  like,  preach- 
ing as  he  went.  He  is  now  in  the  theological  sem- 
inary in  Yokohama,  a  tried  and  true  disciple.  Then 
there  is  old  "  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  the  seventy-year- 
old  jinrikisha  puller,  who  keeps  up  an  old  people's 
society  and  a  book  society,  and  visits  from  house  to 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  203 

house  telling  the  good  tidings.  There  are  the  man 
and  his  wife  on  the  barren  hillside  farm  who  have 
set  aside  their  best  field  for  the  "  Sunday  field,"  whose 
products  belong  to  the  gospel  and  and  its  work.  There 
are  the  faithful  Bible-women,  who  journey  from  vil- 
lage to  village  by  boat  in  all  weathers.  They  often  go 
ten  miles  on  Sunday  in  order  to  hold  a  Sunday-school 
class.  Then  there  are  the  members  of  the  crew  of  the 
"  Fukuin  Maru,"  who,  after  a  hard  day's  work,  walk 
many  miles  to  conduct  a  neighborhood  prayer-meeting. 

A  Living  Epistle.  Captain  Bickel  says  that,  being 
very  tired  one  night,  he  asked  one  of  his  crew,  a 
recent  convert,  to  take  a  Bible  to  a  certain  man.  He 
replied,  saying,  "No,  no,  captain;  he  does  not  need 
that."  "But  why  not?"  "Because  it  is  too  soon. 
That  is  your  Bible,  and  thank  God  it  is  now  mine,  but 
it  is  not  his  Bible."  "What  do  you  mean  by  that?" 
"  Why,  simply  that  he  has  another  Bible ;  you  are  his 
Bible;  he  is  watching  you.  As  you  fail,  Christ  fails. 
As  you  live  Christ,  so  Christ  is  revealed  to  him."  No 
wonder  that  Captain  Bickel  adds :  "  I  did  not  sleep 
that  night.  I  knew  it,  in  a  way,  of  course ;  but  to  say, 
*  As  you  live,  so  Christ  lives  in  that  man's  soul,  in  that 
house,  in  that  village,  in  four  hundred  villages,'  God 
help  me !  " 

Opportunities  for  Advance.  Forty  villages  which 
cannot  be  entered  for  lack  of  men  and  money  are  call- 
ing for  teachers,  Sunday-schools,  and  chapels.  Think 
of  this  in  a  location  where  ten  years  ago  there  was 
not  a  single  friendly  village.  Another  island  group, 
the  Goto  Islands,  must  be  permanently  opened,  and 


204  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

for  them  additional  helpers  must  be  secured.  The 
only  limitation  to  the  work  is  that  set  by  the  limitation 
in  tlie  faith  and  vision  of  the  home  Church. 

A  New  Spirit  Stirring:  The  Tokyo  Tabernacle.  A 
splendid  spirit  is  stirring  in  Baptist  missions  in  Japan 
that  needs  only  determined  and  adequate  backing  on 
the  part  of  the  churches  at  home  to  enable  them  to 
take  the  part  in  the  spiritual  emancipation  of  Japan 
which  is  in  keeping  with  Baptist  resources.  There  is 
the  Tokyo  Tabernacle,  for  example,  under  the  inspir- 
ing leadership  of  the  Axlings.  Here  are  developed  all 
the  agencies  used  by  a  successful  institutional  church 
in  the  homeland.  There  are  night-schools,  young 
men's  and  women's  Bible  classes,  with  more  than  one 
hundred  enrolled,  mothers'  meetings,  a  kindergarten, 
a  nursery,  a  monthly  magazine,  nightly  evangelistic 
services,  frequent  institutes  for  training  the  Christian 
workers.  The  night-schools,  with  an  enrolment  of 
three  hundred  students,  are  yielding  a  surplus  revenue 
to  help  in  supporting  the  other  work.  The  afternoon- 
school  is  nearly  self-supporting  so  far  as  current  ex- 
penses go.  Japanese  supporters  contributed  more 
than  a  third  of  all  the  money  needed  to  maintain  the 
varied  lines  of  work  centered  at  the  Tabernacle.  In 
the  kindergarten  nursery  fifty  little  children,  whose 
mothers  work  in  the  factories,  are  beautifully  cared 
for.  This  work  began  on  the  solicitation  of  a  city 
official,  and  has  proved  the  means  of  securing  entrance 
to  many  families.  The  children's  club  enrolls  one 
hundred  and  fifty  older  children.  Between  five  and 
six  hundred   different  people   are   regular  attendants 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  205 

at  one  or  more  of  the  weekly  services  at  the  Taber- 
nacle, and  a  larger  number  in  addition  of  those  who 
occasionally  come  when  there  is  some  special  service 
to  attend. 

Burning  of  the  Tabernacle.  When  the  cable  flashed 
the  news  of  the  total  destruction  of  the  Tabernacle  by 
fire  last  February  it  seemed  a  terrible  calamity.  But 
already  it  is  evident  that  the  fire  will  only  result  in  an 
enlarged  work.  Many  Japanese  friends  came  forward 
with  pledges  toward  rebuilding,  and  at  the  time  of 
the  Northern  Baptist  Convention,  in  Detroit,  a  move- 
ment was  inaugurated  by  the  divinity  alumni  of  the 
University  of  Chicago  to  provide  $30,000  for  a  new 
plant.  A  considerable  portion  of  this  has  already  been 
pledged. 

Student  Dormitories  at  Waseda.  Another  exceed- 
ingly interesting  development  is  that  of  the  student 
dormitories  in  connection  with  Waseda  University  in 
Tokyo,  where  are  gathered  eight  thousand  students. 
When  the  building  was  opened  Count  Okuma,  the 
founder,  was  represented  by  his  son,  who  gave  a  con- 
gratulatory address.  The  idea  back  of  the  dormitory 
is  to  make  a  Christian  home  for  Christian  students 
who  are  attending  the  university.  The  building  has 
become  headquarters  for  the  Christian  activities  in 
this  great  university.  Meetings  are  held  in  the  large 
assembly  hall,  some  of  them  addressed  by  professors 
in  the  university.  The  Japanese  authorities  are  so 
pleased  with  the  possibilities  of  the  dormitory  for 
university  men  that  they  have  asked  Mr.  BenninghofI 
to  open  one  for  middle-school  boys.     The  conduct  of 


2o6  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

affairs  is  largely  by  self-government.  A  fine  spirit  of 
brotherhood  and  personal  consecration  is  developing. 
Since  the  dormitory  opened  seven  of  its  students  have 
united  with  Christian  churches.  One  of  the  conditions 
for  membership  in  the  dormitory  is  membership  in 
the  Waseda  Christian  Association.  This  organiza- 
tion, which  has  grown  directly  out  of  the  work  of 
the  dormitory  and  the  majority  of  whose  officers  and 
committees  are  from  among  its  members,  has  now  a 
membership  of  over  a  hundred  Waseda  students  and 
eight  members  of  the  faculty.  Through  the  Bible 
classes,  prayer-meetings,  student  conferences,  pleas- 
ant social  life,  and  intimate  Christian  fellowship,  a 
new  moral  tone  is  being  made  in  the  university.  The 
opening  of  this  dormitory  points  out  a  line  of  work 
which  has  very  great  possibilities  for  good.  With  the 
cordial  approval  of  Japanese  authorities.  Christian 
hostels  could  be  erected  in  connection  with  government 
universities  and  high  schools  for  both  boys  and  girls. 

Dormitory  for  Business  Men.  Under  somewhat 
similar  lines  a  dormitory  work  has  been  carried  on 
by  Doctor  Bearing  for  business  men  in  Yokohama. 
It  now  has  twenty-eight  boarders,  and  is  developing  a 
fine  institutional  and  club  life.  There  are  thousands 
of  Christian  young  men  in  business  in  the  city  who 
are  wholly  cut  ofT  from  all  Christian  or  home  influ- 
ence. This  boarding-house  is  in  no  sense  a  charity, 
but  is  wholly  self-supporting.  It  affords  an  oppor- 
tunity to  bring  missionaries  into  close  and  helpful 
contact  with  young  men  who  may  become  great 
powers  for  good.     Men  from  the  student  dormitory 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  207 

from  Waseda  and  from  this  business  dormitory  in 
Yokohama  have  gone  off  to  do  evangelistic  service  on 
Sundays,  and  in  many  ways  have  proved  helpful  to 
the  work  of  the  churches. 

Extent  of  Unreached  Territory.  What  of  the  fu- 
ture and  the  duty  of  the  immediate  present?  While 
the  opening  in  Japan  is  not  so  spectacular  in  its  invi- 
tation as  that  in  China,  it  may  be  questioned  whether 
there  is  in  the  whole  world  a  field  making  greater  de- 
mands on  the  Christian  world  than  does  Japan.  Take, 
for  example,  the  Baptist  portion  of  the  Sendai  field. 
Here  are  more  than  six  hundred  thousand  people  who 
have,  by  the  consent  of  all  the  Christian  bodies  work- 
ing in  Japan,  been  assigned  to  American  Baptists.  If 
they  are  to  be  evangelized  at  all  they  must  look  to 
Baptists.  The  people  in  this  province  are  widely 
scattered  and  cannot  be  reached  from  populous  cen- 
ters. There  are  one  hundred  villages  of  a  population 
of  from  fifteen  hundred  to  nine  thousand.  The  pres- 
ent missionary  force  is  able  to  visit  but  fifteen  of  these 
villages,  containing  a  population  of  sixty-five  thou- 
sand, and  this  with  no  great  regularity.  Again,  take 
Mito,  in  the  Ibaraki  Province.  There  are  thirteen 
million  people  in  the  province,  forty  thousand  of 
whom  live  in  the  capital,  Mito.  In  this  province  there 
are  forty-five  cities,  three  hundred  and  thirty-six 
towns,  and  two  thousand  and  thirty-three  villages. 
Christian  workers  are  located  in  eleven  cities,  two 
towns,  and  thirty-six  villages.  The  entire  number  of 
places  where  Christianity  has  been  preached  at  all  is 
seventy-two.  There  are  thirty  Christian  workers  in 
o 


2o8  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

the  province,  of  whom  the  Baptists  have  two  mis- 
sionaries, seven  paid  and  one  unpaid  Japanese  work- 
ers. Not  five  per  cent  of  the  population  have  had 
sufficient  Ciiristian  instruction  to  make  intelligent  be- 
lief possible.  Not  ten  per  cent  have  once  heard  the 
story  of  Christ's  redeeming  love.  Is  there  any  con- 
sideration that  ought  more  powerfully  to  drive  Chris- 
tians to  their  knees  than  that  of  the  great  unused 
power  of  the  Church  and  the  great  unmet  needs  of 
the  kingdom? 

Minimum  Standard  for  Efficiency.  The  Edinburgh 
World  Missionary  Conference  has  set  as  a  minimum 
standard  for  efficient  evangelization  one  missionary  to 
each  twenty-five  thousand  of  the  non-Christian  popu- 
lation. With  this  number  of  foreign  missionaries 
working  in  cooperation  with  a  very  much  larger  num- 
ber of  native  evangelists  and  ministers,  it  would  be 
possible  to  give  every  one  an  adequate  opportunity  to 
have  the  gospel  presented  to  him.  How  does  the 
Baptist  mission  for  Sendai,  in  which  it  will  be  remem- 
bered there  is  no  other  denomination  at  work  in  the 
portion  assigned  to  Baptists,  meet  the  needs  of  six 
hundred  thousand  people?  There  is  one  ordained 
minister,  his  wife,  and  two  unmarried  women,  a  total 
of  four  missionaries.  There  are  twelve  Japanese  men 
and  ten  Japanese  women  who  are  doing  the  work  of 
preachers  or  evangelists.  If  the  minimum  standard 
set  by  the  Edinburgh  Conference  were  attained  there 
would  need  to  be  twenty-four  missionaries,  including 
ministers,  their  wives,  and  unmarried  teachers,  and  a 
Japanese  staff  much  larger  than  the  one  hundred  and 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  209 

thirty-two  which  a  proportional  increase  of  the  pres- 
ent inadequate  staff  would   demand. 

Could  the  Standard  Be  Met?  Doubtless  the  one 
million,  five  hundred  thousand  Baptist  communicants  of 
the  Northern  States  spent  their  full  share  of  the  half- 
million  dollars  daily  paid  into  the  moving-picture 
shows  last  year.  Since  there  is  one  Baptist  to  every 
sixteen  of  the  population  of  the  United  States,  their 
bill  for  moving-pictures  would  be  about  nine  million, 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year.  Doubtless, 
too,  Baptists  bought  their  full  proportion  of  automo- 
biles, which  would  cost  them  fifty  million  dollars. 
When  the  spreading  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  becomes 
as  important  to  them  as  automobiles  and  as  interesting 
as  moving-picture  shows,  they  will  find  that  all  of 
them,  rich  and  poor,  have  resources  enough  to  man 
and  equip  every  mission  station  which  the  needs  of 
the  world  demand.  It  has  been  estimated  that  an  in- 
vestment of  fifty  million  dollars  a  year  on  the  part  of 
the  Protestants  of  the  United  States  would  enable 
their  Missionary  Boards  to  meet  the  standard  for  ef- 
ficient evangelism  set  by  the  Edinburgh  Conference. 
As  Baptists  North  and  South  are  now  giving  about  one- 
tenth  of  the  foreign  mission  oft'ering  of  the  United  States, 
this  would  require  five  million  dollars  as  their  share — 
less  than  a  dollar  per  member! 

Resources  of  Northern  Baptists.  It  would  be  pos- 
sible for  the  one  million,  five  hundred  thousand  Bap- 
tists grouped  together  in  the  Northern  Baptist  Con- 
vention to  give  the  whole  five  million  dollars  yearly 
by  the  contribution  of  a  cent  a  day  from  each  member. 


210  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

It  is  perfectly  possible,  perfectly  practicable,  perfectly 
necessary  if  the  task  is  to  be  done.  Baptists  were  given 
a  giant's  size,  as  some  one  has  said,  that  they  might 
do  a  giant's  share.  There  is  many  a  little  Benjamin 
of  a  denomination  that  is  putting  them  to  shame. 
There  are  the  United  Presbyterians,  with  their  aver- 
age of  two  dollars  and  forty-eight  cents  per  member 
for  foreign  missions;  the  Reformed  Church  in  Amer- 
ica, with  its  one  dollar  and  seventy-seven  cents  per 
capita;  the  Adventists,  with  one  dollar  and  thirty-nine 
cents  per  capita ;  and  Northern  Baptists  with  seventy-four 
cents !  And  this  is  their  contribution  toward  their  share 
in  bringing  six  hundred  million  of  the  heathen  world  to 
Christ.    It  would  be  ludicrous  were  it  not  so  shameful. 

In  1912,  if  the  amounts  given  by  the  women  of 
Baptist  churches  through  their  Woman's  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Societies  be  deducted,  Northern  Baptist  men  gave 
fifty-eight  cents  each.  To  represent  more  fairly  the  whole 
shame  of  the  situation,  some  specially  large  amounts  given 
by  a  very  few  individuals  should  be  deducted.  When  these 
are  omitted  the  regular  offerings  of  the  churches  aver- 
aged forty-one  cents  per  member  for  the  entire  year  of 
our  Lord  1912.  It  is  time  to  face  the  task,  and 
either  to  do  it  or  quit  it ;  time  to  cease  playing  at  it  and  to 
begin  to  treat  it  as  the  great  business  of  the  Church.  In 
the  year  ending  March  31,  1913,  Northern  Baptist 
churches  contributed  for  beneficence  two  million, 
four  hundred  and  eighty-eight  thousand,  two  hundred 
and  three  dollars  and  fifty  cents.  Of  this  amount, 
counting  contributions  from  women's  circles,  six  hun- 
dred and  fifty-eight  thousand,  one  hundred  and  seventy- 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  211 

four  dollars  and  sixty-seven  cents  was  given  for  foreign 

missions,  about  one-fourth  of  tlic  whole  amount.     (See 

Annual  of  Northern  Baptist  Convention,  1913,  pp.  xxxix 

and  340.) 

Facts  About  Japan 

On  an  area  a  little  greater  than  that  of  California  are  gathered 
51,287,091  people. 

One  in  270  of  the  population  of  Japan  is  avowedly  Christian; 
one  in  566  is  a  Protestant  Christian  communicant. 

Protestant  Christian  constituency  numbers  at  least  180,000. 

Protestant  Christian  communicants  number  90,464. 

Roman  and  Greek  Catholic  Christians  number  98,935. 

Baptist  church-members  number  4,084,  including  504  under 
Southern  Baptist  Convention. 

There  are  962  missionaries  in  Japan — one  to  60,000  of  the 
population. 

Baptist  missionaries  number  81,  nearly  one-twelfth  of  the  mis- 
sionary force. 

Japanese  Baptist  Christians  number  one-twentieth  of  Protes- 
tant communicants. 

Baptists  in  United  States  number  one-fourth  of  Protestant 
communicants. 

Increase  in  Japanese  Baptist  churches  averages  10  per  cent 
annually. 

Increase  in  American  Baptist  churches  averages  one  and 
nine-tenths  per  cent  annually. 

Baptist  Educational  Institutions  in  Japan 

Japan  Baptist  Theological  Seminary,  Tokyo,  Japan.  W.  B. 
Parshley,  D.  D.  (American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society), 
president;  Yugoro  Chiba,  D.  D.  (Southern  Baptist  Con- 
vention), dean;  C.  K.  Harrington,  D.  D.,  Rev.  C.  B.  Tenny, 
Rev.  T.  Takahashi,  Rev.  S.  Mitamura,  of  the  American 
Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society ;  Rev.  G.  W.  Bouldin,  Rev. 
K.  Sato,  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Convention.  A  new  site 
has  recently  been  purchased  in  Tokyo. 


212  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Woman's  Bible  Training  School,   Osaka,  Japan.     Miss  Lavinia 
Mead  and  native  teachers. 
The  students  of  this  school,  which  was  opened  in   1908,  are 
chiefly  graduates  of  the  excellent  Baptist  girls'  home  schools  in 
Japan  and  do  a  high  grade  of  work. 

Duncan  Baptist  Academy,  Tokyo,  Japan.  Mr.  J.  F.  Gressitt, 
principal;  Rev.  D.  C.  Holtom. 
Government  recognition,  which  is  difficult  to  obtain  in  Japan, 
was  accorded  to  Duncan  Academy  in  1905,  and  since  then  an 
advanced  course  has  been  added.  The  school  cooperates  with  a 
Presbyterian  school. 

Sarah  Curtis  Home  School,  Tokyo,  Japan.  -  Miss  A.  M.  Kidder, 

Miss  M.  A.  Whitman,  Miss  M.  M.  Carpenter. 

Also   known   as   the    Suruga   Dai   School.     The   oldest   girls' 

school  in  the  mission.     Among  its  graduates  are  many  teachers, 

nurses,  and  other  Christian  workers.    Pupils  number  forty-seven. 

Mary  L.  Colby  Home  School,  Yokohama,  Japan.    Miss  Clara  A. 
Converse,   Miss   Ruth  D.   French. 
Nearly  100  students  are  in  attendance  each  year.     New  build- 
ings have  been  erected  at  Kanagawa,  a  suburb  of  Yokohama, 
and  a  college  department  has  been  added. 

Ella  O.   Patrick  Home   School,  Sendai,  Japan.     Miss  Annie   S. 
Buzzell,  Miss  Amy  A.  Acock,  Miss  Mary  D.  Jesse. 
Well  known  in  Japan  for  the  excellence  of  its  work.     Prac- 
tically all  the  girls  are  Christians.     Pupils  number  fifty-seven. 

Himeji  Girls'  Boarding  School,  Himeji,  Japan.     Miss  Edith   F. 
Wilcox,  Miss  F.  M.  Rumsey,  Miss  Marjorie  Hiscox. 
About  eighty  girls  attend  this  school.     Conversions  are   fre- 
quent. 

Tokyo  Kindergarten  Training  School,  Tokyo,  Japan.     Miss  Har- 
riett  L.    Dilhridge   and   native   teachers. 


IN  THE  ISLAND  EMPIRE  213 

Bibliography 

Griffis,  Verbcck  of  Japan.     New  York,  Revell. 

Whole  World  Kin:  A  Pioneer  Experience  .  .  .  of  Nathan  Brown. 
Chapters  XXXV  to   XL.     Philadelphia,   Hubbard,   1890. 

Montgomery,   Western   Women   in   Eastern  Lands,  pp.    17,    18. 
New  York,   Macmillan,   191 1. 

Clement,  Christianity  in  Modem  Japan.     Philadelphia,  American 
Baptist  Publication  Society,  1905. 

Gives  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  work  of  Christianity,  especially 
since  1853. 

DeForest,  Sunrise  in  the  Sunrise  Kingdom.    New  York,  Mission- 
ary Education  Movement,  191 1. 

A  study  text-book  serviceable  for  reference. 

For  the  Liuchiu  Islands  see  Christian  Movement  in  Japan. 

Bickel,  The  Log  of  the  Gospel  Ship.    Boston,  American  Baptist 
Foreign  Mission  Society,  1910. 

Sketches  of  the  unique  work  of   the  "  Fukuin  Maru "  in  the 
Inland  Sea. 

Newcomb,   With   Our  Kindergarten  Babies  in  Japan.     Boston, 
Woman's  Baptist  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 

Duncan   Baptist   Academy.     Boston,   American    Baptist   Foreign 
Mission  Society. 

Merriam,  History  of  American  Baptist  Missions.     Chapter  XVII. 

Missions  in  Japan.     Boston,  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission 
Society. 

Japan  Baptist  Annual. 

Annual  reports  of  the  Japan  Mission;  descriptive  of  features 
of  our  work  in  progress. 


214  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Christian  Movement  in  Japan,  1903-1913.  New  York,  Missionary 
Education  Movement. 

In  its  yearly  issues  may  be  found  such  descriptive  and  statisti- 
cal data  about  the  missionary  and  other  phases  as  the  reader  of 
this  chapter  may  need. 

World  Missionary  Conference,  1910  Reports:  I,  pp.  50-67,  Occu- 
pation. II,  pp.  122-165,  252-256,  307,  308,  Education.  IV, 
pp.  77-121,  Religions. 


PIONEERING  ON  THE  CONGO 


CHAPTER  VII 
PIONEERING  ON  THE  CONGO 

Africa's  Redemption.  "  Where  sin  abounded  grace 
did  much  more  abound  "  might  almost  epitomize  the 
missionary  story  of  Africa,  for  it  is  in  the  Dark  Con- 
tinent, full  of  cruelty,  of  savagery,  of  lust,  and  super- 
stition that  Christianity  has  won  some  of  its  most 
glorious  triumphs.  There  is  no  wealth  of  missionary 
heroism  that  quite  equals  that  of  Africa.  There  are 
no  miracles  of  redemption  that  surpass  those  per- 
formed by  Christ  in  the  Dark  Continent.  And  Africa, 
the  backward,  bewildered,  undeveloped,  and  despised 
continent,  sees  the  day  of  her  redemption  dawning. 
The  black  man  and  his  land,  last  of  all,  shall  find  their 
place  in  the  story  of  human  progress.  When  the  story 
of  Africa's  civilization  and  redemption  shall  be  written 
the  missionary  will  be  seen  to  be  its  founder  and 
builder.  From  Prince  Henry  and  the  Jesuits  to  Krapf 
and  Rebmann,  Livingstone,  Coillard,  Grenfell,  Good, 
and  the  long  roll  of  missionaries  less  widely  known, 
the  African  frontier  was  pushed  steadily  inland  through 
a  century.  *'  The  African  frontier  has  advanced  on 
the  stepping-stones  of  missionary  graves,"  says  W.  T. 
Stead. 

The  Frightful  Cost  of  Life.  When  we  consider  the 
frightful  cost  of  life  in  the  early  days  before  the  con- 

217 


2i8  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

ditions  under  which  white  men  could  live  in  Africa 
were  understood,  the  dauntless  faith  of  the  missionary 
pioneers  is  nothing  less  than  sublime.  In  1835  the 
Milnes  and  Crockers  sailed  for  Liberia.  Within  a 
month  after  landing  Mrs.  Milne  died  of  African  fever, 
and  the  others  were  so  ill  that  their  lives  were  de- 
spaired of.  In  reply  to  a  friend,  Mr.  Crocker  wrote : 
"  You  ask  whether  I  am  not,  by  this  time,  sorry  I 
came  to  Africa.  I  can  truly  answer,  '  No.'  Every 
day  I  bless  God  for  bringing  me  hither."  In  two  years 
Mr.  Milne  was  compelled  to  return  to  America.  Mr. 
Crocker  lost  both  his  first  and  second  wives  by  fever, 
each  after  a  service  of  a  few  months.  The  Fieldings 
went  to  Liberia  in  1840,  to  die  of  the  terrible  fever 
within  six  weeks.  Rev.  Calvin  Holton  died  after  a 
service  of  four  months.  Mrs.  Anderson  lived  only 
five  days  after  settling  in  her  new  home.  All  these 
were  Baptist  missionaries  from  America.  "  In  the 
first  seven  years  of  the  Livingstone  Inland  Mission 
ten  white  men  and  one  woman  were  laid  to  rest  in 
Congo  earth,  and  others  invalided  to  England.  Dur- 
ing the  twenty-five  years'  history  of  the  English  Bap- 
tist mission,  thirty-three  men  and  sixteen  women 
bought  the  road  with  their  blood  for  thirteen  hun- 
dred miles  inland  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
south  to  Zimbo."*  Between  1804  and  1824  fifty-three 
missionaries  of  the  Church  of  England,  men  and 
women,  laid  down  their  lives  for  Sierra  Leone.  The 
Swedish    Missionary   Society   on    the    Congo,   in    the 

*  Parsons'  "  Christus  Liberator,"  p.  21 1. 


PIONEERING  ON  THE  CONGO  219 

twenty-five  years  following  1884,  lost  fifty-three  out  of 
one  hundred  and  thirty-five  missionaries,  by  death.  On 
the  east  coast  John  Ludwig  Krapf  buried  wife  and 
child  a  few  months  after  arriving  at  Mombasa,  and 
sent  this  challenge  home : 

There  is  now  on  the  East  African  coast  a  lonely  mis- 
sionary grave.  This  is  a  sign  that  you  have  commenced 
a  struggle  with  this  part  of  the  world;  and,  as  the  vic- 
tories of  the  Church  are  gained  by  stepping  over  the 
graves  of  her  members,  you  may  be  the  more  convinced 
that  the  hour  is  at  hand  when  you  are  summoned  to  the 
conversion  of  Africa  from  its  eastern  shores. 

At  the  end  of  a  heroic  life  of  unavailing  struggle, 
he  said : 

Though  many  missionaries  may  fall  in  the  fight,  yet 
the  survivors  will  pass  over  the  slain  into  the  trenches 
and  take  this  great  African  stronghold  for  the  Lord.  Be 
mindful  of  the  memorable  words  spoken  by  the  French 
Guard  at  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  "  The  Guard  does  not 
surrender — it  dies !  " 

Alexander  Mackay's  Heroism.  When  Alexander 
Mackay  departed  for  Uganda  in  response  to  Stanley's 
appeal  in  1875,  he  said  to  the  Board  of  Directors  of 
the  Church  of  England  Missionary  Society :  "  I  want 
to  remind  the  committee  that  in  six  months  they 
will  probably  hear  that  one  of  us  is  dead — when  the 
news  comes  do  not  be  cast  down,  but  send  some  one 
immediately  to  take  the  vacant  place."  Within  two 
years  Mackay  was  the  only  one  of  the  eight  young 
men,  the  flower  of  England,  to  survive.     Years  later. 


220  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

in  his  last  letter  home,  wlicn  he  had  been  driven  into 
exile  by  the  people  among  whom  he  worked,  and  when 
the  whole  undertaking  was  apparently  a  failure,  he 
wrote : 

What  is  this  you  write  ?  "  Come  home."  Surely,  now 
in  our  terril^le  dearth  of  workers  it  is  not  a  time  for  any 
one  to  desert  his  post.  Send  us  only  our  first  twenty 
men,  and  I  may  be  tempted  to  come  home  to  help  you  find 
another  twenty. 

White  Men  Conquering  the  Climate.  Conditions 
have  greatly  changed  since  those  early  days.  The 
terrible  sacrifice  of  life  has  proved  to  be  not  in  vain. 
The  missions  have  been  established,  a  great  work  has 
been  done,  and  white  men  have  learned  how  to  live, 
and  to  a  certain  extent,  to  thrive  in  the  tropical  cli- 
mate of  Africa.  The  recent  developments  in  scientific 
medicine  have  disclosed  the  origin  of  many  of  the 
fevers  and  contagious  diseases.  Better  sanitation, 
destruction  of  the  mosquitoes,  inoculation  for  typhoid, 
the  study  of  tropical  diseases,  and  increasing  medical 
skill  in  combatting  them,  have  all  contributed  to 
change  conditions.  There  are  to-day  many  mission- 
aries in  tropical  Africa  who  have  given  a  score  or 
more  of  years  of  continuous  service.  Of  the  American 
Baptist  force  now  in  the  Congo  Mission,  Doctor  Sims, 
Mr.  Frederickson,  the  Clarks,  Mr.  Richards,  Mr.  Bill- 
ington,  and  Mr.  Harvey  have  all  seen  thirty  years  of 
service.  The  Halls,  Mrs.  Richards,  Miss  Cole,  Mrs. 
Billington,  Mrs.  Frederickson,  the  Bains,  the  Hills, 
Doctor  Leslie,  the  Moodys,  and  Doctor  Lynch  have 


PIONEERING  ON  THE  CONGO  221 

all  seen  twenty  years  or  more.  And  there  are  others 
with  ten  or  more  years. 

Great  Possibilities  of  Africa.  The  sacrifice  of  life 
and  treasure  that  have  been  poured  out  so  freely  in 
Africa  has  not  been  expended  in  an  unrewarded  quest. 
Africa  is  so  vast  that  the  United  States,  Europe,  India, 
China  proper,  and  Great  Britain  might  all  be  carved 
out  of  its  territory  with  generous  margins  to  spare. 
Africa  has  marvelous  water-power,  rich  mineral  de- 
posits, gold  and  diamond  mines,  vast  grazing  fields, 
uncounted  forests  of  rare  wood ;  she  has  magnificent 
wheat,  cotton,  cofifee,  and  banana  lands.  In  every 
national  resource  she  is  an  imperial  land.  But  the 
future  of  the  land  is  bound  up  with  that  of  her  people ; 
one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  primitive,  undevel- 
oped, yet  powerful  men.  The  conservation  of  human 
resources  is  the  problem  of  Africa.  Here  too,  while 
the  task  is  more  terrible  than  that  of  reclaiming  the 
land,  it  is  neither  hopeless  nor  unrewarded.  There 
is  good  stuff  in  these  black  diamond  mines.  It  may 
well  be  that  in  the  roomy  providence  of  God  with 
whom  one  thousand  years  are  as  a  day,  the  African, 
so  long  the  despised  slave,  may  some  day  have  a  great, 
new  word  to  say. 

Some  Gifted  Africans.  The  common  expression 
about  "  inferior  races  "  is  misleading  and  unscientific. 
There  are  races  in  which  the  majority  of  the  individ- 
uals are  backward  and  undeveloped,  but  there  is  no 
race  in  which  has  not  been  found  some  individual 
who  could  prove  that  the  limitations  were  not  bio- 
logical and  racial,  but  social  and  circumstantial.     Africa, 


222  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

for  example,  has  been  rich  in  these  sons  of  hers,  who 
have  set  forward  the  hopes  of  her  friends.  There  was 
Crowther,  the  slave  boy,  who  became  saint  and  bishop ; 
Kaboo,  the  son  of  a  Kru  chieftain  (Sammy  Morris),  a 
man  shining  for  God ;  John  Dube,  grandson  of  a  Zulu 
king,  who  has  been  called  the  Booker  T.  Washington 
of  South  Africa;  and  Paul,  the  Apostle  of  the  Congo. 
There  is  now  studying  in  this  country  a  young  man 
who  proves  the  splendid  mental  capacity  of  the  native 
African.  Although  only  nine  years  "  out  from  the 
bush,"  he  speaks  and  writes  French  and  English, 
studies  Latin  and  higher  mathematics,  maintains  a 
high  academic  standard  in  one  of  the  best  fitting 
schools  in  the  United  States,  and  is  liked  and  respected 
as  a  man  by  all  his  student  associates.  Yet  this  boy 
came  from  a  tribe  with  no  written  language,  which  is 
still  in  the  blackest  savagery. 

Importance  of  the  Native  Population.  Says  Profes- 
sor Naylor:  "Africa's  importance  to  the  world  is  de- 
pendent, not  so  much  upon  what  the  country  possesses 
of  natural  resources,  nor  upon  what  it  develops  of 
domestic  or  foreign  commerce,  as  upon  what  the  na- 
tive himself  becomes."  This  is  the  task  laid  upon  the 
Christian  church,  to  reach  the  native  in  advance  of  the 
disintegrating  and  deadening  influences  of  avaricious 
traders.  There  is  no  more  pressing  or  momentous 
task.  In  many  sections  the  Church  is  already  too  late. 
A  spiritless,  drunken,  and  degraded  population  has 
replaced  the  primitive  savages.  It  will  take  years, 
perhaps  centuries,  to  recover  the  ground  already  lost. 
The  church  must  husband  what  remains. 


PIONEERING  ON  THE  CONGO  223 

Pioneer  Efforts  Inspired  by  Africans.  It  is  notable 
that  pioneer  missionary  efforts  in  this  country  and  in 
England  were  inspired  by  black  men.  The  organiza- 
tion of  the  missionary  societies  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  was  inspired  by  the  missionary  zeal  of  a 
Negro.  It  was  a  Negro  Baptist  of  Richmond,  Va., 
who  in  1815  organized  among  his  fellows  the  Rich- 
mond American  Baptist  Missionary  Society.  For  five 
years  these  simple  freed  Negroes  contributed  their 
gifts  for  the  redemption  of  Africa.  Before  it  was 
possible  for  them  to  send  out  their  first  missionaries 
they  had  accumulated  seven  hundred  dollars.  Through 
the  swaying  curtain  of  the  years  it  is  difficult  to  gain 
a  clear  idea  of  this  remarkable  colored  man,  Lott 
Carey.  He  had  bought  his  own  freedom  and  that  of 
his  family  by  extra  work  at  his  trade.  He  had  ac- 
cumulated property  and  had  taught  himself  to  read  to 
such  good  purpose  that  he  read  with  enjoyment  books 
like  Adam  Smith's  "Wealth  of  Nations."  He  left 
prospects  that  for  a  Negro  were  remarkable,  to  go  to 
Liberia,  as  the  first  colored  missionary.  Here  his 
native  force  made  him  the  bulwark  against  the  powers 
of  savagery  that  were  threatening  to  overwhelm  the 
infant  colony.  The  first  British  missionary  to  Africa 
was  a  manumitted  slave  of  the  West  Indies.  After 
England  had  emancipated  the  blacks  in  the  West  In- 
dies, a  Negro  named  Keith  purposed  to  return  to  Africa 
and  preach  the  gospel  in  the  very  place  where  he  him- 
self had  been  captured  as  a  slave.  He  worked  his 
passage  to  Africa  before  the  mast,  and  was  later 
adopted  by  the  colored  Baptists  of  Jamaica  as  their 
p 


224  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

missionary.  "  Perhaps  they  will  make  you  slaves 
again,"  said  some  timid  brethren  to  these  early  mis- 
sionaries. "  As  we  have  been  made  slaves  for  men, 
so  we  can  be  made  slaves  for  Christ,"  they  answered. 
Following  these  tirst  beginnings,  the  Southern  Bap- 
tists maintained  missionary  work  in  Liberia  and  Sierra 
Leone,  and  later  in  the  Yoruba  country.  The  North- 
ern Baptists,  after  the  separation  from  the  Southern 
Baptists,  did  nothing  further  for  Africa  until  1884. 

Baptists  Acquire  the  Livingstone  Inland  Mission. 
The  Livingstone  Inland  Mission  of  England,  organ- 
ized in  1879,  had  founded  a  chain  of  seven  stations  up 
the  river,  had  launched  the  steamboat  "  Henry  Reed  " 
in  the  upper  Congo,  had  reduced  the  Congo  language 
to  writing,  published  a  grammar  and  dictionary,  and 
sent  out  fifty  missionaries.  This  entire  plant,  repre- 
senting an  investment  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars,  with  a  missionary  stafif  numbering 
twenty-six,  was  ofifered  to  American  Baptists  of  the 
North.  Although  there  were  some  who  were  doubtful 
about  the  wisdom  of  accepting  this  ofTer,  it  was  de- 
cided to  adopt  the  mission.  It  is  said  that  Dr.  Ed- 
ward Bright  was  one  of  the  leaders  whose  ringing 
editorials  in  "  The  Examiner  "  had  much  to  do  with 
preventing  Baptists  from  making  the  blunder  of  re- 
treating before  such  an  opportunity. 

The  Congo  Free  State.  At  that  time  the  vast 
region  known  as  the  Congo  Free  State  had  only 
recently  begun  to  occupy  the  public  thought.  Stanley, 
by  his  exploration  in  1879,  had  unwittingly  laid  the 
basis  for  the  personal  domination  of  King  Leopold  of 


PIONEERING  ON  THE  CONGO  225 

Belgium  in  the  Congo  Basin.  The  purpose  of  the 
great  nations  who  joined  in  the  Berlin  Conference  of 
1884  to  create  the  Congo  Free  State,  was  sadly  frus- 
trated by  the  tyrannical  and  sordid  apology  for  a  gov- 
ernment which  King  Leopold  set  up  throughout  this 
whole  region.  Concessions  in  rubber  and  ivory  were 
farmed  out  to  greedy  commercial  companies.  Through 
these  King  Leopold  waxed  rich  by  the  tribute  wrung 
from  millions  of  helpless  people.  By  forced  taxes, 
cruel  exactions,  burnings,  mutilations,  and  death, 
great  regions  once  populous  were  made  desolate.  It 
was  only  because  of  the  fearless  and  persistent  pub- 
licity which  the  missionaries  gave  to  these  dark  deeds 
perpetrated  in  the  heart  of  Africa  that  the  Congo  atrocities 
were  ultimately  terminated. 

Present  Conditions  on  the  Congo.  The  swarming 
population  that  Stanley  found  throughout  the  Congo 
basin  has  been  sadly  reduced.  Social  conditions  are 
changed,  often  for  the  better.  The  dark  shadow  of 
cannibalism  still  remains  in  localities  far  back  from 
the  river.  Polygamy,  nakedness  of  body  and  spirit, 
cruelty,  and  the  terrors  of  an  overshadowing  animism 
still  characterize  the  land,  but  these  "  wild,  rowdy 
Congo  people  "  have  proved  to  have  the  making  of 
men  and  to  be  peculiarly  open  and  responsive  to  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel.  Those  longest  on  the  field 
believe  that  the  worst  conditions  have  been  reached 
and  that  already  a  change  for  the  better  is  observable. 
American  Baptists  have  shared  the  responsibility  of 
the  Congo  field  with  the  English  Baptists,  the  Swedish, 
the  Disciples,  the  Alliance  Mission,  the  Plymouth  Breth- 


226  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

ren,  the  Southern  Presbyterians,  and  the  Regions  Beyond 
Missionary  Union.  Yet  all  of  them  together  have  only 
made  a  beginning  in  the  work  which  must  be  done  in 
these  vast  fields  of  equatorial  Africa. 

The  Pentecost  on  the  Congo.  In  1886  Henry  Rich- 
ards, one  of  the  missionaries  who  had  gone  out  under 
the  Livingstone  Inland  Mission,  had  been  laboring  at 
Banza  Manteke  for  seven  years  with  few  results. 
When  he  had  traveled  through  the  pathless  wilderness 
in  1879,  there  was  not  one  person  who  knew  Christ. 
He  built  himself  a  hut  of  the  long  grass  and  settled 
down  to  pick  the  language  from  the  lips  of  the  people 
and  reduce  it  to  writing.  In  his  little  note-book  he 
wrote  down  all  that  he  learned.  The  savages  mocked 
him,  stole  from  him,  lied  to  him,  and  lived  quite  openly 
their  shameless  and  evil  lives.  The  difficulties  were 
enormous.  For  example,  it  took  Mr.  Richards  three 
months  of  study  to  find  out  their  word  for  "yester- 
day." He  found  that  there  w^ere  sixteen  declensions 
of  nouns  and  seventeen  conjugations  of  verbs,  with 
tenses  galore,  each  with  its  special  form  and  delicate 
shade  of  meaning.  In  fact,  one  of  the  mysteries  sur- 
rounding these  Central  African  peoples  is  the  superi- 
ority of  their  languages.  How  did  such  savages  ever 
invent  such  smooth,  mellifluous,  flexible,  and  rich 
language  forms?  After  gaining  the  language,  he  made 
acquaintance  with  the  ideas  and  superstitions  of  the 
people.  He  found  that  they  had  a  shadowy  belief  in  a 
Supreme  Creator,  "  Nzambi  " ;  but  him  they  did  not 
worship,  because  they  thought  he  had  gone  away  and 
did    not    concern     himself    with     them.       They     were 


PIONEERING  ON  THE  CONGO  227 

engaged  rather  in  the  attempt  to  placate  the  spiritual 
powers  of  darkness,  with  which  they  believed  the 
world  to  be  peopled. 

The  Turning-Point.  Mr.  Richards  thought  that  he 
must  begin  his  preaching  with  the  idea  of  creation, 
and  that  of  God  as  a  loving  heavenly  Father.  For 
four  years  he  tried  this,  leading  them  along  the  path 
of  Old  Testament  story.  Then  he  began  to  preach 
the  law,  the  Ten  Commandments,  the  terrible  pun- 
ishment of  sin.  The  people  remained  quite  indifferent. 
They  said  that  these  laws  were  good ;  that  they  them- 
selves kept  them,  and  calmly  refused  to  make  any 
uncomfortable  personal  application.  (How  much  like 
us  they  are !)  In  despair  Mr.  Richards  began  anew 
a  study  of  the  missionary  life  of  the  apostles,  and  saw 
that  the  heathen  were  converted,  not  with  the  preach- 
ing of  the  law  of  condemnation,  but  by  the  good  news 
of  grace.  This  was  the  turning-point.  He  began  sim- 
ply with  Luke's  Gospel,  translating  twelve  verses 
every  day,  and  then  explaining  them  to  the  people. 
When  he  came  to  the  thirtieth  verse  of  the  sixth 
chapter  he  did  not  know  what  to  do.  The  people  were 
shameless  beggars,  thieves  too.  Why  not  pass  over 
that  verse?  He  studied  and  prayed.  Did  the  verse 
mean  what  it  said?  Here  he  was  in  the  wilderness. 
If  he  gave  the  people  what  they  asked  him  for  they 
would  strip  him  to  the  bone,  and  heartlessly  leave  him 
to  perish.  At  last,  after  weeks  of  prayer,  he  decided 
to  translate  the  verse  with  absolute  fidelity  to  the 
word  of  Christ;  to  say  that  this  was  a  high  standard, 
but  that  from  thenceforth  he  meant  to  try  to  live  up 


228  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

to  it.  After  the  address  was  over  the  people  flocked 
around  him,  and  then  began  to  ask  him  for  his  things 
until  they  left  him  with  barely  a  roof  over  his  head. 
That  night  he  laid  the  whole  burden  upon  Gr  d,  and 
lay  down  to  sleep.  Before  the  early  dawn  Ke  was 
wakened  by  the  stealthy  footfalls  of  those  who  were 
returning  the  goods  which  they  had  begged.  "  This 
must  be  '  Nzambi's  '  man,"  they  said.  "  If  he  is  God's 
man  we  must  not  rob  him.  We  cannot  keep  what  he 
has  given  us." 

Coming  of  the  Revival.  As  he  continued  to  tell  the 
story  of  Christ's  life,  the  solemnity  grew  until,  when 
he  came  to  the  crucifixion,  the  Holy  Spirit  itself 
seemed  to  be  working  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
Then  came  the  first  convert,  Lutate,  whom  Mr.  Rich- 
ards had  to  take  into  his  own  house  for  safe-keeping, 
because  his  enemies  tried  to  poison  him.  The  chief's 
son  was  converted,  and  then  the  number  of  believers 
swelled  to  ten.  Taking  these  disciples,  ]\Ir.  Richards 
went  throughout  the  territory  telling  the  story  of 
Jesus.  A  thousand  names  were  enrolled  in  the  list  of 
believers.  W^hen  the  news  reached  America  the  mem- 
bers of  Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon's  church  in  Boston  sent  out 
a  chapel  in  sections,  all  ready  to  put  together.  The 
Christians  walked  sixty  miles  and  carried  it  all  upon 
their  heads  to  Banza  Manteke  in  seven  hundred  loads. 
Some  of  them  made  the  rough  journey  five  times,  each 
trip  taking  a  week,  and  did  it  all  for  love,  with  laugh- 
ter and  bright  faces.  From  Banza  Manteke  the  revival 
spread  to  other  stations  up  and  down  the  Congo.  To- 
day there  are  enrolled  in  all  the  churches  of  the  Amer- 


PIONEERING  ON  THE  CONGO  229 

ican  missions  working  in  this  section  of  Africa,  four- 
teen thousand  baptized  Christians.  There  are  in  the 
Christian  community  more  than  three  times  this  num- 
ber of  people.  If  we  add  to  the  American  societies  the 
English  and  Continental,  we  have  eighteen  societies 
in  all,  with  forty-five  thousand  communicants  or  one 
hundred  and  three  thousand  adherents.* 

Generosity  of  Congo  Christians.  These  Africans 
make  pretty  good  church-members  too,  when  it  is 
considered  that  most  of  them  are  not  one  generation 
away  from  savagery.  Their  generosity  puts  more  ad- 
vanced Christians  to  shame.  The  average  income  of 
a  man  is  about  sixteen  dollars  a  year,  yet  the  per 
capita  average  for  each  contributing  member  at 
Ikoko  was  one  dollar  and  thirty-eight  cents.  The 
church  at  Wathen,  in  the  English  Baptist  mission  on 
the  Congo,  established  fifty-two  new  branches  last 
year.  The  church  boasts  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
six  evangelists ;  ninety-two  of  them  are  paid  workers 
and  one  hundred  and  four  voluntary  workers.  One 
out  of  every  ten  of  the  one  thousand,  nine  hundred 
and  ninety-five  members  of  this  church  is  an  evan- 
gelist. Is  there  a  church  in  America  which  can  match 
this  record?  At  Ikoko  the  church  recently  passed 
the  rule  that  any  one  refusing  to  help  in  the  Lord's 
work  when  called  upon  by  the  church  should  be  ex- 
pelled. Many  of  these  people  do  not  see  a  franc 
(twenty  cents)  once  a  month.  On  one  of  his  trips  Mr. 
Hartsock  found  in  the  collection  arrows,  cloth,  plates, 

*  Statistical  Atlas,  published  by  Edinburgh  World  Conference 


230  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

and  so  on.  In  some  cases  these  were  all  the  posses- 
sions which  the  contributors  had.  He  speaks  of  one 
woman  who  had  a  piece  of  cloth  about  two  feet  long 
and  a  string  of  beads.  These  were  all  the  property 
she  possessed  in  the  world.  She  gave  them  both  to 
help  build  a  chapel  in  her  town.  Mr.  Metzger  tells 
of  a  group  of  seventy  men  and  boys  who  turned  over 
to  him  all  the  rubber  they  had  on  hand,  worth  in  all 
about  twenty-five  dollars.  They  gave  this  as  a  special 
donation  in  addition  to  their  monthly  gifts  in  order 
to  avoid  a  debt  which  confronted  the  mission. 

Striking  Changes  Brought  About.  Some  of  the  vet- 
eran missionaries  of  the  Baptist  mission  have  stated 
in  a  very  impressive  way  the  differences  made  among 
these  people  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  in  one 
generation.  Rev.  Joseph  Clark,  of  Ikoko,  writing  after 
his  last  furlough  in  1912,  says: 

Eighteen  years  ago  we  came  to  a  people  whose  lan- 
guage was  not  known,  and  to  whom  the  gospel  story  had 
not  been  told.  All  the  men  were  reputed  cannibals,  de- 
lighting in  warfare  and  every  form  of  evil,  and  each 
carried  bows  and  arrows,  spears  and  knife.  The  women 
were  treated  as  slaves,  or  beasts  of  burden,  were  almost 
nude,  and  devoid  of  every  womanly  feeling.  Now,  as 
they  stood  on  the  beach  to  welcome  us,  we  saw  scores  of 
women  and  girls  decently  clothed,  with  smiling  faces  and 
cheerful  voices,  as  they  sang  hymns  of  praise  to  God. 
The  men  were  clothed  and  carried  no  weapons.  The  old 
savage,  sullen,  heathen  face  was  gone.  .  .  Look  at 
that  sturdy,  well-dressed  woman,  whose  face  lights  up 
with  a  smile,  and  note  her  nicely  clothed  baby  and  her 
six  little  ones.  She  was  one  of  the  wildest  women  when 
we  first  made  her  acquaintance.    On  the  slightest  provo- 


A    MEETING   FOR   THE   WOMEN 


ORPHANAGE    GTRLS    AT    SONA    BATA    LEARNING    TO    SEW 


PIONEERING  ON  THE  CONGO  231 

cation  she  would  challenge  any  one  to  fight  her,  and 
would  stand  out,  nude,  waiting  for  some  one  whom  she 
could  bite  and  tear.  For  years  she  has  been  a  follower 
of  Jesus,  and  tells  others  the  story  of  his  wondrous  love. 
.  .  As  Mrs.  Clark  stepped  off  the  gangplank,  her 
face  was  pale  and  drawn  with  emotion.  .  .  In  a  mo- 
ment she  was  lifted  on  the  shoulders  of  these  strong 
women,  who  carried  her  up  from  the  beach  and  into  her 
house  before  they  laid  down  their  old  "  Mama." 

Mrs.  Frederickson's  testimony  is  not  less  striking: 

It  will  be  twenty-seven  years  since  I  landed  at  Banana 
to  give  my  life  for  the  evangelization  of  Congo.  ,  . 
It  required  fifteen  days  then  to  travel  between  Matadi 
and  Sona  Bata,  where  coolies  carried  us  by  hammock. 
The  train  takes  us  now  in  two  days.  .  .  The  people 
were  superstitious  and  thought  that  we  were  the  cause  of 
their  death  and  that  we  took  their  souls  to  Europe.  They 
lived  in  fear  and  hatred,  in  wars  and  slavery,  and  few 
wore  clothes.  Slavery  is  officially  stopped,  so  are  the 
wars.  To-day  there  are  Christians  in  many  villages 
where  over  one  hundred  thousand  people  must  have 
heard  some  of  the  gospel.  Surely,  the  dawn  is  here. 
Come  over  and  help  us. 

Mr.  Moody,  of  Lukunga,  says  that,  whereas  ten 
years  ago  the  people  used  to  run  away  from  him,  they 
will  now  come  a  distance  of  tw^enty  or  thirty  miles 
in  order  to  attend  the  quarterly  communion  service; 
will  walk  two  days  on  the  road,  will  sleep  five  nights  on 
the  ground,  and  provide  their  own  food. 

The  Apostle  of  the  Congo.  There  are  not  wanting 
notable  individual  Christians.  Perhaps  the  story  of 
Paul,  the  Apostle  of  the  Congo,  is  best  known.     He 


232  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

had  been  a  violent  opponent  of  the  gospel,  the  wild 
young  son  of  the  chief.  He  sought  with  drink  and  the 
beating  of  the  old  heathen  drums  to  draw  away  the 
Christians  from  the  worship.  His  heathen  name  was 
Nloko,  "  the  curse."  But  one  time  this  man,  whom 
none  could  tame,  found  himself  in  great  peril  on  the 
mighty  river,  whose  thunders  drowned  his  weak 
cries  as  he  called  for  help.  He  vowed  a  vow  that  if 
the  Christians'  God  would  help  him  he  would  be  his 
man.  God  saved  his  life,  and,  true  to  his  word,  he 
presented  himself  as  a  convert  before  the  amazed  and 
perhaps  excusably  skeptical  missionary.  He  soon 
proved  that  his  repentance  was  no  scheme  to  make 
trouble,  but  the  genuine  thing.  The  rowdy  robber 
and  murderer  had  become  a  new  man  in  Christ  Jesus. 
The  new  life  grew  swiftly,  rooting  out  his  old  evil 
habits.  He  asked  to  be  given  the  hardest  tasks;  and 
after  his  baptism,  no  longer  Nloko,  "  the  curse,"  but 
Paul,  the  missionar}^  he  w^as  allowed  to  go  to  Kun- 
zama,  a  town  where  it  had  been  impossible  to  gain  a 
foothold  for  the  gospel.  The  people  were  afraid  of 
him.  and  would  not  admit  him  to  the  tow^n.  Nothing 
daunted,  he  made  him  a  hut  just  outside  the  village, 
and  began  his  siege.  They  would  not  sell  him  food, 
and  tried  to  prevent  his  getting  water.  He  nearly 
starved.  He  endured  cruel  persecution,  but  he  stuck 
to  his  post.  After  some  months  a  man  came  out  from 
the  town,  saying:  "I  too  am  a  Christian."  He  built 
another  hut  near  Paul's,  and  the  two  united  in  prayer 
and  work.  One  by  one  the  people  were  won  over, 
until   there  w^as  surrounding  Paul's   hut   a  Christian 


PIONEERING  ON  THE  CONGO  233 

village  containing  a  chapel  that  would  seat  three 
hundred  people.  Out  into  the  dark  forest  these  Chris- 
,tians  went,  from  village  to  village,  into  regions  where 
the  missionaries  had  never  penetrated.  Wherever  they 
went  they  told  the  story  of  the  cross.  "  It  is  this 
which  breaks  men's  hearts,"  they  said.  Before  Paul 
died  he  had  gathered  about  him  a  church  numbering 
six  hundred  members,  and  his  evangelists  had  gath- 
ered other  hundreds  beyond  the  river.  Said  Mr.  Rich- 
ards: "All  that  Paul  dreamed  of  was  souls  and  how 
he  could  reach  them.  He  was  a  born  preacher.  No 
man's  prayers  helped  me  so  much  as  his." 

Returning  Good  for  Evil.  The  finer  flowers  of  the 
gospel  philosophy  of  life  do  not  prove  out  of  reach  of 
the  African.  Perhaps  nothing  is  harder  even  for  ma- 
ture Christians  than  to  act  upon  the  Saviour's  counsel 
of  perfection  in  regard  to  loving  one's  enemies  and 
praying  for  those  who  are  persecutors.  There  was  the 
son  of  an  African  chief  wdio  was  insolently  beaten  one 
day  by  a  Belgian  official  because  he  did  not  instantly 
yield  the  path.  Now,  in  his  own  eyes  and  in  the 
opinion  of  all  the  natives,  this  young  chief  w^as  a  very 
grand  person  indeed.  To  be  beaten  like  a  common 
slave  was  infinite  degradation,  unless  the  insult  could 
be  atoned  in  blood.  The  young  fellow  was  a  Chris- 
tian. He  came  into  the  mission,  shaking  with  passion, 
unable  to  tell  the  story  of  the  unprovoked  assault.  Yet 
he  was  able  to  come  quietly  into  prayer-meeting  that 
night  and  pray  for  his  enemy  with  free  forgiveness. 
Those  who  think  that  this  was  an  easy  triumph  do 
not  know  the  fierce  courage  of  these  Congo  tribes,  or 


234  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

their  code  of  blood-revenge.  The  courage  and  faith 
which  it  required  for  the  young  chief  to  do  this  thing 
were  not  less  than  sublime.  He  took  up  his  cross  and 
followed  his  Master. 

Just  One  Tribe.  If  missions  among  primitive  people 
accomplished  little  else  they  would  be  worth  all  that 
they  cost  simply  to  demonstrate  the  unity  of  man 
and  to  break  the  crust  of  the  colossal  race-egotism  of 
the  whites.  The  paths  on  the  steepest  heights  of  the 
spirit  are  not  marked,  "Reserved  for  white  men." 
Daily  the  scientific  accuracy  and  profound  spirituality 
of  Paul's  great  saying  become  more  apparent — "  God 
hath  made  of  one  blood  all  men  for  to  dwell  on  the 
face  of  the  earth."  This  is  beautifully  illustrated  in  a 
story  told  recently  regarding  Miss  Jean  McKenzie,  a 
Presbyterian  missionary,  working  to  the  north  of  the 
Congo  country,  in  Efulen.  The  women  of  Efulen,  it 
seems,  had  asked  her  to  make  them  clothing  like  the 
long  robes  she  wore. 

"Who  am  I,"  she  answered,  "that  I  should  make  you 
clothing?  Am  not  I  the  speaker  of  the  Word  who  walks 
from  village  to  village  at  the  bottom  of  the  forest  sea?" 

"  Whence  then  get  you  your  own  long  garments,  white 
teacher?  " 

"  I  will  tell  you.  Do  you  remember  Memba,  the  girl 
who  went  from  our  village  to  Elat  with  her  husband  ?  " 
The  women  nodded. 

"  Who  is  it  that  says  to  the  traveler  through  the  forest 
'  Go  you  to  Elat,  the  village  of  Memba '  ?  " 

"  Her  mother,  surely." 

"  In  my  father's  village,  called  New  York,  is  my 
mother,  and  when  travelers  come  across  the  great  water 


PIONEERING  ON  THE  CONGO  235 

she  says  to  them,  '  Go  you  to  the  village  of  Jean  Mc- 
Kenzie  ? '  and  when  they  answer  '  Yes,'  she  loads  them 
with  garments  for  me." 

"  Oh,"  said  the  women,  "  we  perceive  you  also  are  of 
our  tribe." 

Baptist  Schools  on  the  Congo.  One  of  the  important 
features  of  missionary  work  on  the  Congo  is  the 
schools.  The  American  Baptists  were  perhaps  slow  to 
realize  the  need  of  well-equipped  station  boarding- 
schools  in  which  to  train  the  leaders  and  apostles  of 
the  people.  The  Congo  can  never  be  evangelized  or 
Christianized  by  white  men.  They  can  only  give  their 
lives  each  one  to  inspire  a  score  of  Africans  who  can 
speak  where  they  only  stammer,  live  where  they  only 
languish,  understand  where  they  stumble  in  darkness. 
The  English  Baptists  have  a  much  better  developed 
system  of  these  station  schools.  The  language  prob- 
lem becomes  ever  more  acute.  French  is  the  language 
of  the  government,  and  the  one  which  it  is  most  im- 
portant for  the  Congo  native  to  learn.  If  Protestants 
are  to  hold  and  gain  the  Congo  for  Christ  there  must 
be  missionaries  who  can  teach  French  as  well  as  or 
better  than  the  Jesuits  teach  it. 

Boarding-Schools.  There  are  seven  boarding- 
schools.  At  Banza  Manteke,  a  girls'  boarding-school 
with  fourteen  pupils ;  at  Lukunga,  one  for  boys  with 
thirty  pupils;  at  Sona  Bata,  one  for  boys  with  forty- 
four  pupils,  and  one  for  girls  with  thirty-two  pupils ; 
at  Ikoko,  one  for  girls  with  twenty-five  pupils ;  at 
Kimpesi,  the  Evangelical  Training  School  with  six- 
teen pupils;  at  Palabala,   a  school  with   twenty-five 


236  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

pupils ;  at  Tshiimbiri  a  girls'  school  with  nine  pupils. 
Some  of  these  have  little  or  no  equipment  or  build- 
ings, and  are  only  maintained  by  the  self-sacrificing 
care  of  missionary  wives  who  take  in  a  family  of  from 
ten  to  twenty  children,  and  mother  and  train  them. 
Mr.  Clark  speaks  of  the  equipment  at  Ikoko  as  follows: 

The  school  is  prospering,  but  the  equipment  is  some- 
what primitive.  The  main  building  is  an  open  shed, 
floored  with  small  loose  stones  and  sand  from  the  lake 
shore.  The  furnishings  are  three  tables  and  desks,  and 
a  case  of  slates  given  by  a  Boston  friend.  There  are  no 
maps  or  pictures  of  any  kind.  We  do  not  worry,  how- 
ever, over  the  things  we  lack,  but  think  of  these  attractive 
young  pupils  in  whom  are  great  possibilities. 

Mrs.  Metzger,  who  has  begun  a  girls'  school  in 
Tshumbiri,  writes  that  four  of  her  girls  are  from  the 
Bateke  tribe,  whose  women  have  been  so  difficult  to 
reach,  because  the  men  will  not  allow  them  the  priv- 
ilege of  hearing  the  gospel.  She  said  that  when  they 
came,  they  wore  only  loin-cloths,  and  their  hair  was 
matted  with  oil.  She  now  has  them  clean,  wearing 
dresses  which  they  have  made  themselves,  with  their 
hair  nicely  cut.  They  have  even  reached  the  point  of 
making  combination  suits  of  underwear  for  them- 
selves! 

Need  for  Better  Equipment.  Is  it  not  a  challenge  to 
American  Baptists  to  send  men  and  women  to  this 
neediest  and  most  difficult  field,  and  then  to  equip 
them  with  what  would  be  necessary  on  the  homeland 
in  similar  undertakings  ?  Dr.  Catharine  Mabie's  indignant 
query  will  find  an  echo  in  many  hearts: 


PIONEERING  ON  THE  CONGO  237 

When  shall  we  have  boarding-schools  like  those  of  the 
British  Baptist  Missionary  Society,  properly  staffed  and 
equipped,  to  meet  the  crying  need  of  our  largely  evangel- 
ized but  ill-shepherded  lower  Congo  field?  If  only  our 
Banza  IManteke  school,  opened  ten  years  ago,  could  have 
lived  to  perform  its  proper  functions,  we  should  not  to- 
day have  such  a  dearth  of  trained  native  workers. 

Mrs.  Frederickson,  after  long  pleading,  was  grateful 
beyond  words  for  five  hundred  dollars  with  which  to 
build  a  dormitory  for  her  girls,  formerly  housed  in 
native  huts  and  sheds.  When  one  thinks  of  the  addi- 
tional labor  which  this  entailed  in  the  way  of  super- 
vision, and  of  the  impossibility  of  teaching  order, 
neatness,  and  better  standards  of  living  under  such 
conditions,  it  seems  a  shame  that  this  apostolic  woman 
had  to  toil  so  long  with  her  needs  unsupplied. 

Kimpesi  Evangelical  Training  Institution.  At  Kim- 
pesi  there  has  recently  been  established  a  new  type  of 
school,  the  Congo  Evangelical  Training  Institution, 
to  which  the  men  in  training  as  evangelists  and  teach- 
ers may  come  for  a  three  years'  course  and  may  bring 
their  families.  In  this  school  English  and  American 
Baptists  unite.  Mr.  McDiarmed  and  Mr.  Cameron 
put  in  their  vacation  superintending  the  making  of  one 
hundred  and  thirty-five  thousand  bricks  with  which, 
under  their  direction,  the  students  built  seven  double- 
brick  houses  in  which  they  and  their  families  were  to 
live.  The  compound  was  cleared  of  a  year's  growth 
of  tall  grass,  gardens  were  made  and  trees  planted. 
Here  they  will  have  a  regular  African  community  life, 
so  under  the  direction  of  the  missionaries  that  it  will 


238  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

be  possible  greatly  to  elevate  the  standards  of  these 
who  are  to  be  the  leaders  of  the  people.  Doctor  Mabie 
has  been  transferred  to  Kimpesi,  and  has  undertaken 
the  teaching  of  the  women  in  physiology  and  hygiene. 
She  also  has  Bible  classes  for  the  women  and  children, 
and  supervises  the  practice  schools  of  the  normal  de- 
partment. She  is  working  out  a  set  of  primary  text- 
books, and  beginning  a  course  with  the  women  on  the 
duties  and  privileges  of  wifehood,  motherhood,  and 
church-membership.  In  Africa  too,  we  are  discover- 
ing that  the  source  of  conservatism  and  reaction  is 
among  the  wives  and  mothers,  and  that  it  is  quite  as 
important  to  train  the  wives  of  teachers  and  preachers 
as  to  train  the  men  themselves. 

Industrial  Training,  One  of  the  greatest  needs  of 
Baptist  schools  on  the  Congo  is  the  introduction  of 
industrial  training  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  people. 
The  men  have  behind  them  centuries  of  the  free,  lazy 
life  of  the  hunter  and  fighter.  The  women  have  been 
the  immemorial  drudges.  It  is  necessary  to  teach  the 
men  to  work  if  they  are  to  be  led  out  of  the  savage 
into  the  civilized  state.  These  Congo  Negroes  are  not 
wanting  in  energy,  and  have  much  native  aptitude  as 
artisans  in  the  working  of  metals.  Those  who  are 
skeptical  in  this  matter  should  read  the  story  of  Love- 
dale  in  South  Africa,  the  Livingstonia  Industrial  Mis- 
sion in  Central  Africa,  and  that  of  Uganda.* 

The  Village  School.  There  are  a  total  of  two  hun- 
dred and  forty-seven  village  schools  in  Baptist  Congo 

*  See  "  Daybreak  in  the  Dark  Continent,"  p.  160. 


PIONEERING  ON  THE  CONGO  239 

regions,  with  seven  thousand,  six  hundred  and  ninety- 
two  pupils.  The  following  table  was  obtained  from 
the  combined  reports  of  the  Woman's  Boards  and  those 
of  the  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society  for  the 
past  two  years.  Owing  to  furloughs  and  the  under- 
manning  of  stations,  it  is  sometimes  impossible  to  get 
reports  from  all  the  stations  every  year. 

VILLAGE   SCHOOLS    IN    CONGO    MISSION 

Average  No. 
Schools.  Pupils.  Pupils. 

Palabala    17  872  51 

Banza  Manteke  72  3,261  43 

Lukunga    15  255  17 

Sona  Bata    39  708  18 

Matadi  2  67  33 

Cuillo    1  50  50 

Tshumbiri   24  1,120  46 

Mukimvika   48  850  17 

Ikoko   14  500  35 

One  of  the  indispensable  factors  in  the  elevation  of 
the  people  is  the  training  of  the  young  children,  the 
capturing  of  the  beautiful  young  spirits  before  they 
are  warped  and  stunted  by  the  evil  conditions  about 
them.  The  day  will  come  when  there  will  be  kinder- 
gartens in  the  African  forest,  and  kindergarten  train- 
ing schools.  Now,  the  problem  is  to  keep  the  breath 
of  life  in  the  little  village  schools  under  the  leadership 
of  the  half-trained  and  partially  effective  native  teach- 
ers on  whom  for  the  present  the  mission  must  depend. 
With  all  their  failings,  these  village  schools  are  the 
Q 


240  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

springs  of  progress.  In  them  are  discovered  the  bright 
boys  and  girls  to  send  up  to  the  station-schools  for 
further  training.  Out  of  them  come  the  most  prom- 
ising converts. 

Salaries  of  the  Teachers.  One  of  the  difficulties  is 
the  low  salary  paid  to  the  teacher.  Each  school  now 
costs  on  an  average  sixteen  dollars,  the  price  of  the 
teacher's  salary.  This  is  too  little;  it  really  is!  If 
there  could  be  two  hundred  and  fifty  Sunday-schools 
in  American  Baptist  churches  who  would  each  agree 
to  pay  twenty-five  dollars  a  year  for  the  support  of  a 
village  school  in  Africa,  new  life  would  come  into  the 
whole  village-school  situation.  Think  of  it !  Twenty- 
five  dollars  a  year  for  a  school  in  which  thirty  or  forty 
little  children  are  taught  to  read  and  write,  to  sing 
beautiful  hymns,  to  learn  whole  chapters  from  the 
New  Testament,  to  have  their  first  lessons  in  decency 
and  in  truth.  The  difficulty  is  in  holding  teachers  to 
their  work  on  their  present  low  salaries.  Mr.  Hill, 
of  Lukunga,  reports  that  eighteen  teachers  left  their 
schools  to  go  to  work  on  the  railroad  or  in  the  copper 
mines.  In  the  copper  mines  the  workmen  are  paid  from 
four  to  six  dollars  a  month ;  as  teachers  they  receive 
from  sixty  cents  to  a  dollar  and  twenty  cents  a  month. 
They  have  to  pay  a  tax  of  nine  francs  a  year  to  the 
Belgian  Government.  So  it  becomes  necessary  for 
them  to  earn  more  money.  It  does  look  as  though  it 
might  be  a  little  difficult  even  for  a  Congo  native  to 
pay  a  tax  equal  to  one  dollar  and  eighty  cents  out 
of  an  annual  income  of  sixteen  dollars.  The  mission 
would  not  have  to  pay  teachers  as  much  as  they  could 


STARTING   FOR   A   TOUR   ON    A    MONOCVCLE 


AN    OPERATION    UNDER   DIFFICULTIES 


PIONEERING  ON  THE  CONGO  241 

earn  in  the  mines.  Africans  are  like  Americans;  they 
would  rather  teach  than  work  in  copper  mines.  Even 
the  slight  raise  in  salary  to  twenty-five  dollars  a  year 
would,  doubtless,  hold  most  of  them. 

Enlarged  Opportunity  for  Village  Schools.  Every 
year  the  people  are  growing  more  appreciative  of  the 
value  of  these  village  schools.  Mr.  Geil  tells  of  receiv- 
ing a  very  urgent  communication  from  a  chief  beyond 
the  river,  asking  for  teachers.  "  The  chief  wants  to 
know  why  it  is  that  his  people  cannot  have  teachers 
when  he  has  asked  for  them  so  often.  There  hasn't 
been  a  teacher  in  all  his  territory.  The  chief  says  that 
the  priests  are  coming  to  ask  permission  to  put  teach- 
ers in  his  villages.  But  he  doesn't  want  their  teachers ; 
he  wants  teachers  from  the  mission."  Mr.  Geil  says 
that  with  a  list  of  twenty  such  villages  open  before 
him  he  is  compelled  to  write  that  he  has  no  teachers 
to  send. 

Medical  Work  on  the  Congo.  Medical  work  on  the 
Congo  offers  a  unique  opportunity.  Among  all  ani- 
mistic people  (spirit  worshipers)  the  witch-doctor  and 
the  priest  are  one  and  the  same  person.  Hence,  it 
is  the  natural  thing  to  a  Congo  mind  that  a  minister 
should  also  be  a  doctor.  In  fact,  it  is  a  distinct  handi- 
cap to  a  preacher,  if  he  is  not  also  a  physician.  So 
true  is  this  that,  perforce,  the  missionaries  have  all 
done  more  or  less  in  the  healing  of  disease.  For  years, 
at  Sona  Bata,  Mrs.  Frederickson,  without  any  hos- 
pital building,  with  only  native  huts  for  dispensary 
buildings,  has  done  a  remarkable  work  in  medical  min- 
istry.    In  1912  she  treated  in  the  dispensary  nearly 


242  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

six  thousand  cases,  cared  for  forty-six  in-patients  and 
collected  thirteen  hundred  and  forty-four  francs*  in 
medical  fees.  Mrs.  Bain,  during  the  furlough  of  Doc- 
tor Mabie,  heroically  assumed  charge  of  the  medi- 
cal work  in  Banza  Manteke  in  1912,  pending  the 
arrival  of  Doctor  Parsons.  She  reported  a  thousand 
and  seventeen  treatments,  eighteen  in-patients,  one 
hundred  calls  in  villages,  and  eight  patients  treated  in 
villages.  Mrs.  Billington  also,  while  in  Tshumbiri, 
did  a  splendid  medical  work.  Mr.  Rodgers,  at  Ikoko, 
kept  up  active  dispensary  practice.  All  these  mission- 
aries were  limited  to  the  treatment  of  the  common 
ailments  which  their  skill  allowed  them  to  undertake, 
and  welcomed  most  gladly  the  fully  trained  physicians 
recently  sent  to  the  reenforcement  of  the  mission. 

Medical  Staff  on  the  Congo.  There  are  now  in  the 
Congo  mission.  Doctor  Sims,  the  splendid  pioneer  of 
thirty  years'  service,  at  Matadi ;  Doctor  Lynch  at 
Mukimvika,  Doctor  Nauss  at  Sona  Bata,  Doctor  Os- 
trom  at  Ikoko,  Doctor  Leslie  at  Vanga  (recently  re- 
moved from  Cuillo),  Doctor  Mabie  at  Kimpesi.  Every 
one  of  these  heroic  physicians  ought  to  have  a  well- 
built  modern  hospital,  equipped  both  for  the  saving 
of  life  and  the  carrying  on  of  those  researches  in  tropi- 
cal diseases  which  will  make  all  life  on  the  Congo 
safer.  They  ought  to  be  supplemented  by  trained 
nurses,  who  should  begin  the  task  of  training  native 
nurses  and  midwives  and  of  securing  better  sanitation 
in  daily  life.    There  are  individual  churches,  as  well  as 

♦Nearly   $269. 


PIONEERING  ON  THE  CONGO  243 

individual  believers  in  the  home  church  who,  without 
any  straining  of  their  resources,  could  put  a  hospital 
in  every  station. 

Facts  About  Africa 
Three  Af  ricas : 

Pagan  Africa,  population   90,000,000 

Christian    Africa    5,500,000 

Mohammedan  Africa    40,000,000 

Eight  hundred  and  forty-three  languages  in  Africa;  not  one 
of  them  written  when  missions  began. 

One  hundred  million  people  to-day  without  a  written  language. 

Five  blocks  of  unoccupied  territory,  containing  50,000,000 
people,  outside  the  reach  or  plans  of  any  missionary  society. 

Missionaries  number  1,585. 

Average  parish  to  each  missionary,  900,000. 

Unoccupied  Portuguese  African  territory  is  four  times  the 
size  of  New  York  State. 

In  the  Sudan  is  territory  as  large  as  the  United  States  of 
America,  containing  15,000,000  souls,  without  one  resident  mis- 
sionary. 

Twenty  African  languages  reduced  to  writing  in   1913. 

Fourteen  out  of  fifteen  Presbyterian  churches  in  Kamerun  are 
self-supporting. 

Baptist  Educational  Institution  in  the  Congo 

Evangelical    Training    School,    Kimpesi,    Belgian    Congo.      Rev. 
S.  E.  Moon,  Miss  Catharine  L.  Mabie,  M.  D.,  representing 
the  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society. 
English  and  American  Baptists  unite  in  this  teachers'  training 
school,   which   has   about   forty-five   pupils.     The  equipment   in- 
cludes dormitories,  lecture-rooms,  built  of  iron  with  grass  roofs, 
and  a  central  building,  the  Bentley  Memorial,     Industrial  work 
is  a  feature. 


243 


244  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

"  We  must  bear  tlie  brunt  of  danger. 
We  the  youthful  sinewy  races,  all  the  rest  on  us  depend, 
Pioneers !     O  Pioneers ! 

"  On  and  on  the  compact  ranks 
Through  the  battle,  through  defeat,  moving  yet  and  never 
stopping. 

Pioneers  !    O  Pioneers  !  " 

—Walt  Whitman. 

Bibliography 

Stanley,    Henry    M.,    Autobiography    of.      Boston,    Houghton, 
Mifflin  and  Company. 

Naylor,  Daybreak  in  the  Dark  Continent.     New  York,  Mission- 
ary Education  Movement,   1912. 

A  study  text-book  useful   for  reference. 
Parsons,  Christus  Liberator.    New  York,  Macmillan,  1905. 

An  outline  study  of  Africa. 

Harrison,  Mackay  of  Uganda.     New  York,  Armstrong,  1898. 

Gammell,  History  of  American  Baptist  Missions.    Chapter  XIX. 
Boston,  1854. 

Medbury,  Memoir  of  William  G.  Crocker.    Boston,  1848. 

Merriam,  History  of  American  Baptist  Missions.    Chapter  XVHI. 

Missions  in  Africa.    Boston,  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission 
Society,  1905. 

Paul,  the  Apostle  of  Banza  Manteke.     Boston,  American  Baptist 
Foreign  Mission  Society,  1913. 

Pentecost   on    the   Congo.     Boston,    American    Baptist    Foreign 
Mission  Society,  1906. 

World  Missionary  Conference,  1910,  Reports:  I.  pp.  224,  225,  Oc- 
cupation.   II,  p.  422,  Education.    Ill,  pp.  7-27,  Religions. 


BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE 
PHILIPPINES 


CHAPTER  VIII 

BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY  IN  THE 
PHILIPPINES 

Phoebus'  chariot  race  is  run 
Look  up,  poet,  at  the  sun. 

— E.  B.  Browning. 

The  Wonder  Year.  Did  the  sun  ever  shine  on  a 
more  surprising  year  than  that  of  1898?  A  year  that 
saw  the  world's  greatest  despot  issue  a  peace  rescript 
to  bring  together  the  nations  of  the  world  for  the  abro- 
gation of  war;  the  downfall  of  Spain  as  a  colonial 
power,  and  the  annexation  of  the  Philippines  without 
the  loss  of  an  American  life;  the  promulgation  of 
twenty-seven  reform  edicts  by  the  Emperor  of  China, 
his  consequent  deposition,  and  the  seizure  by  Russia, 
England,  France,  and  Japan  of  nearly  all  China's  seaports  ! 

America  in  the  Field  of  World  Politics.  Suddenly 
America  rubbed  her  eyes.  The  ship  of  state  was  un- 
moored, and  with  all  sails  set  was  making  for  the  high 
seas.  Policies  of  isolation  were  at  an  end,  whether 
she  would  or  not,  for  good  or  ill,  she  was  afloat  on  the 
sea  of  international  politics.  Doctor  Barrows,  on  his 
return  after  delivering  the  first  course  of  lectures  in 
India  on  the  Haskell  Foundation,  commented  on  the 
sudden   shifting  of  public  interest.     When   he   went 

247 


248  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

away  he  said  audiences  were  small  and  evidently  bored 
by  the  discussion  of  such  remote  and  uninteresting 
topics  as  the  Far  East.  When  he  returned  at  the  end 
of  1898,  the  largest  halls  would  not  hold  the  people, 
eager  to  hear  more  of  the  strange,  distant  nations, 
with  whom,  for  the  first  time,  they  recognized  com- 
mon interests  and  a  common  destiny. 

Acquisition  of  the  Philippines.  When  Admiral 
Dewey's  cablegram  was  received,  announcing  the  re- 
sult of  the  battle  of  Manila,  there  were  not  wanting 
those  among  well-educated  people  who  hastened  to 
consult  the  atlas  before  the  children  could  ask  them 
where  the  Philippines  were.  It  was  as  if  a  great  Hand 
suddenly  reached  in  to  our  little  games  of  statecraft 
and  politics  and  rearranged  the  pieces.  "  America," 
says  Charles  W.  Briggs,  in  his  fascinating  book,  "  The 
Progressing  Philippines,"  "  like  Magellan  nearly  four 
hundred  years  earlier,  sailed  into  the  Philippines  under 
sealed  orders  of  vaster  import  than  could  be  known 
at  the  time.  The  battle  of  Manila  Bay  was  an  act  in  a 
drama  of  far  greater  design  than  the  chief  actors 
even  guessed."  * 

Size.  The  islands  which  dropped  so  unexpectedly 
into  the  hands  of  America  in  1898  form  one  of  the 
world's  fairest  archipelagoes.  Thousands  of  them  dot 
the  surface  of  the  tropic  seas,  three  hundred  are  in- 
habited, eleven  are  large  islands.  They  extend  a  thou- 
sand miles  north  and  south,  and  five  hundred  miles 
east  and  west.     California  or  Japan  has  each  a  some- 

*  See   "  The    Progressing    Philippines,"   p.    163. 


BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY  249 

what  larger  area,  but  the  Philippines  could  sustain  as 
large  a  population  as  Japan  with  her  forty-five  millions 
of  inhabitants.  The  Philippine  area  is  greater  than 
that  of  Italy,  which  sustains  a  population  of  thirty- 
two  millions  as  against  the  seven  million,  six  hundred 
thousand  of  the  Philippines.  The  Middle  Atlantic 
States,  with  a  population  of  nineteen  millions,  have 
virtually  the  same  area.  The  longitude  is  such  that 
when  it  is  noon  at  Washington,  D.  C,  it  is  ten  o'clock 
the  following  morning  at  Manila ! 

Climate.  The  climate  of  the  islands  is  distinctly 
tropical,  yet  so  tempered  by  the  ocean  that  there  is 
comparatively  little  variation  in  temperature  through- 
out the  year.  Many  Americans  who  have  become  ac- 
climated are  enthusiastic  about  the  climate,  and  prophesy 
that  when  once  the  islands  have  been  made  sanitary 
they  will  become  a  health  resort  for  Europeans  and 
Americans. 

Resources  and  People.  While  minerals  are  not 
lacking,  the  chief  wealth  of  the  Philippines  is  in  their 
forests  and  their  agricultural  products :  rice,  hemp, 
copra,  sugar,  tobacco.  The  people  of  the  islands  are 
Malay  in  origin.  The  elaborate  theories  in  regard  to 
many  diverse  race-stocks  have  all  gone  to  pieces  in 
the  face  of  first-hand  investigations  on  the  spot  by 
government  scientists.  The  Filipino  is  a  Malay.  Lan- 
guage differences  are  those  of  dialect  produced  by 
the  isolation  of  the  various  tribes.  The  mountain 
ranges  running  north  and  south  forbade  communica- 
tion between  tribes  living  on  the  eastern  and  western 
sides  of  the  islands.    In  addition  to  the  Filipino  tribes. 


250  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

there  are  the  dwarf  Negrito,  or  aboriginal  tribes,  who 
were  driven  by  tlie  Malay  invaders  to  the  mountain 
fastnesses  of  the  interior.  Only  a  few  thousand  of 
these  shy  savages  survive.  The  name  Filipino  is 
confined  to  the  Christianized  portion  of  the  Malay 
population.  The  pagan  Malay  tribes — Igorotes,  Ifu- 
gaos,  Nangianes,  and  others — are  found  in  the  moun- 
tainous interior  of  the  larger  islands  only.  These  num- 
ber about  a  half-million,  and  are  supposed  to  represent 
the  first  wave  of  the  Malay  invasion.  These  savages 
preserve  primitive  Malay  social  institutions  virtually 
unchanged.  They  are  exceedingly  conservative,  brave, 
hardy,  and  industrious.  American  army  officers  de- 
clare that  they  think  some  of  the  best  raw  material 
in  the  islands  is  to  be  found  among  these  primitive 
folk.  The  Moros,  of  Mindanao,  the  southern  island, 
are  also  Malay,  representing  the  last  wave  of  Malay 
immigration  to  the  Philippines.  They  are  very  fierce 
and  aggressive  Moslems.  They  were  in  process  of 
conquering  the  whole  archipelago  when  the  Spaniards 
took  possession  of  the  islands  and  checked  their  ad- 
vance, but  were  never  able  to  subdue  them. 

Race  Unity.  The  Philippines  are  seen  to  have  one 
of  the  bases  of  nationality,  a  homogeneous  people, 
divided  it  is  true,  but  capable  of  being  brought  to- 
gether. Furthermore,  the  great  majority  of  the  in- 
habitants are  unified  by  religion  and  social  customs. 
While  Spain  did  not  accomplish  all  that  could  be 
wished  during  her  three  hundred  years  of  dominance, 
she  did  give  the  Filipinos  what  no  other  Malay  race 
ever  had,  ideas  of  monotheism  and  monogamy.     She 


BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY  251 

cleared  the  ground  for  the  superstructure  of  a  freer 
and  purer  religious  and  political  life.  In  our  prejudice 
against  Spanish  medieval  ideals  of  government  and 
religion  we  must  never  forget  the  real  debt  which  the 
islands  owe  to  Spain.  To  one-tenth  of  the  people  she 
gave  the  knowledge  of  the  Spanish  language,  with  its 
noble  literature;  to  all,  the  traditions  of  the  Christian 
family,  with  its  tenderness  toward  childhood  and  old 
age.  The  depth  of  her  influence  is  clearly  seen  by  the 
very  revolutions  which  the  Filipinos  waged  against 
Spain  herself.  What  other  Malay  people  ever  held 
the  idea  of  liberty  in  Church  and  State  so  as  to  be 
willing  to  pour  out  its  blood  like  water  to  obtain  it? 

Filipino  Tribes.  In  this  brief  study  of  Baptist  mis- 
sions it  is  unnecessary  to  enumerate  all  of  the  Filipino 
tribes.  The  Tagalogs,  found  in  the  principal  island 
of  Luzon,  are  the  most  restless  and  adventurous,  the 
most  citified  and  Spaniardized.  They  comprise  about 
one  and  a  half  millions,  and  are  located  chiefly  in  the 
territory  in  which  Manila  is  situated.  Baptist  work  is 
among  the  Visayans,  who  are  found  in  the  islands  of 
Panay,  Negros,  Cebu,  Samar,  Leyte,  and  Bohol,  sta- 
tions being  located  only  on  the  first  two  named.  The 
other  civilized  tribes  are  found  for  the  most  part  in 
northern  Luzon. 

Filipino  Characteristics.  Travelers  do  not  give  the 
Filipino  a  very  good  reputation.  They  say  he  is  lazy, 
improvident,  a  gambler,  and  without  ambition.  This 
is  undoubtedly  true  of  the  large  number  of  semi- 
parasitic  middle-class  mestizos  (mixed  race)  who  have 
drifted    into    the    towns.      But    those    who    have    come 


252  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

into  contact  with  Visayans  of  the  provinces  have  a 
far  more  encouraging  story  to  tell.  Mr.  Briggs  speaks 
of  the  friendship  of  many  Filipinos  of  all  classes  as 
a  "  priceless  boon."  There  are  many  v^ho  tell  of  the 
sweetness,  patience,  courage,  and  devotion  of  Filipino 
Christians.  Furthermore,  in  judging  a  people,  one 
must  always  discriminate  clearly  those  qualities  that 
are  the  result  of  social  institutions.  The  well-nigh 
universal  use  of  drugs,  narcotics,  and  alcohol  by  men, 
women,  and  children,  for  generations,  has  depressed 
the  powers  of  the  race  physically,  mentally,  and  mor- 
ally. "  The  Filipino,"  says  Mr.  Briggs,  "  is  a  drugged 
and  drunken  Malay,  falling  far  short  of  his  highest 
capacities."  His  church  has  borne  no  clear  testimony, 
his  physicians  have  universally  recommended  stimu- 
lants, he  has  had  no  glimmer  of  an  idea  of  the  nature 
of  these  evils  which  were  sapping  his  very  life.  One 
of  the  strongest  arguments  for  pushing  mission  work 
in  the  Philippines  is  that  missionary  preachers  and 
teachers  form  the  only  body  of  radical  temperance 
workers  in  the  islands. 

The  Land  Question  in  the  Philippines.  Filipino  life 
is  cleft  in  twain  by  the  land  question.  There  are  two 
classes,  the  landed  and  the  landless:  the  Spanish- 
speaking  mestizo,  and  the  tazvos  or  common  people. 
Between  the  two  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed.  The 
friars  have  consistently  despised  the  native,  and  taught 
the  mestizo  to  be  proud  of  his  Spanish  birth.  The 
feudal  land  system  has  established  a  landowning  aris- 
tocracy composed  of  the  mestizo,  or  Spanish-speaking 
portion  of  the  population,  and  the  friars.     The  back- 


BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY  253 

bone  of  Filipino  social  life  is  feudalism.  A  failure  to 
understand  this  makes  it  impossible  rightly  to  inter- 
pret conditions  or  movements.  Primitive  Malay  so- 
ciety had  been  composed  of  three  classes,  the  datos, 
or  chiefs,  big  and  little,  the  tazvos,  or  common  people, 
and  the  slaves.  It  was  an  easy  thing  to  build  upon 
this  social  organization  a  feudal  state  and  a  feudal 
church.  The  abuses  of  the  friars  as  landlords  were 
the  chief  reasons  for  the  revolt  of  the  Filipinos  against 
Spain.  The  friars  had  come  to  hold  a  large  portion 
of  the  best  land  in  the  islands,  on  which  they  paid  no 
taxes,  and  from  which  they  derived  very  large  rev- 
enues. 

The  Man  at  the  Bottom.  Each  little  barrio,  or 
country  village,  is  governed  by  a  head  man,  who  is 
responsible  to  the  presidente  of  the  pueblo,  or  town. 
No  one  expects  to  be  independent.  Each  pays  tribute 
to  the  chief  above  him  for  protection  in  the  good  old 
feudal  way.  The  condition  of  the  peasant  at  the  bot- 
tom is  one  of  peonage,  and  sometimes  virtual  slavery. 
He  is  never  out  of  debt  to  the  owner  of  the  hacienda 
for  the  bare  necessities  of  life.  He  passes  from  gen- 
eration to  generation  as  part  of  the  property  of  the 
estate.  The  helplessness,  improvidence,  and  lack  of 
ambition  which  centuries  of  such  conditions  have  cre- 
ated will  not  be  removed  in  a  day.  The  Filipino  is 
drugged  not  only  with  narcotics,  but  with  feudalism. 

Coming  of  the  Missionaries.  The  city  of  Manila 
was  still  in  the  throes  of  insurrection  when  the  first 
American  missionary  services  were  held  by  the  Meth- 
odists  and   Presbyterians.      Early   in    1900   came   the 


254  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Baptists,  the  United  Brethren,  the  Disciples,  and  the 
Congregationalists.  It  was  soon  seen  that  some  or- 
ganized plan  of  dividing  up  the  territory  must  be 
made.  Accordingly  an  Evangelical  Union  was  formed 
in  1901,  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  Methodists  and 
Presbyterians  should  be  assigned  territory  in  Luzon,  while 
the  Baptists  and  Presbyterians  were  to  divide  the  terri- 
tory in  Panay  and  Negros.  It  was  further  agreed  that 
the  name  Protestant  should  not  be  used,  but  that  the 
churches  should  be  known  as  Evangelical  churches,  and 
that  members  moving  from  one  location  to  another  should 
be  accepted  by  letter,  irrespective  of  denomination. 

Filipino  Response.  There  never  was  such  a  re- 
sponse to  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  as  the  Filipinos 
gave  during  the  next  ten  years.  It  was  a  new  thing 
for  them  to  have  liberty  to  say  anything  or  to  read 
any  book  contrary  to  the  will  of  the  friars.  At  first 
they  could  not  understand  that  the  protection  of  the 
American  flag  meant  the  right  to  free  thought,  free 
speech,  and  a  free  Bible  in  a  free  state.  Men  had  been 
put  to  death  for  owning  a  Bible  in  the  Philippines. 
There  had  been,  however,  an  unconscious  preparation 
for  freedom.  Sefior  Zamora,  imprisoned  and  exiled 
for  reading  the  Bible,  returned  from  Europe  after  the 
coming  of  the  Americans  to  find  his  son  Nicholas  also 
secretly  believing,  and  these  two  formed  the  nucleus 
of  the  first  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Manila. 
One  whole  village  church  went  over  in  1901,  assem- 
bling on  their  knees  with  tears  to  partake  of  the  first 
communion  in  which  they  were  allowed  to  take  the 
wine  as  well  as  the  bread. 


BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY  255 

Baptist  Pioneers.  It  was  at  first  supposed  that 
Spanish  would  be  the  language  of  instruction  in  the 
Philippines,  and  the  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission 
Society  hastened  to  lay  hands  on  Rev.  Eric  Lund,  who 
had  for  years  been  faithfully  shepherding  a  little  Baptist 
church  in  Spain.  When  Mr.  Lund  replied  to  the  letter 
from  the  Board  asking  him  to  take  up  work  among 
the  Visayan  islanders,  he  was  able  to  tell  them  that 
he  had  with  him  in  Spain  a  converted  Visayan,  a  for- 
mer student  for  the  priesthood,  with  whose  help  he 
had  already  prepared  a  Visayan  translation  of  a  por- 
tion of  the  New  Testament  and  some  Spanish  tracts. 
When  Mr.  Lund  and  Mr.  Manikan  began  their  work 
in  Jaro  they  found  that  the  Spanish-speaking  people 
were  a  very  small  proportion  of  the  inhabitants. 
These,  moreover,  were  bitterly  prejudiced  and  inac- 
cessible. They  realized  that  if  the  Filipinos  were  to 
be  evangelized  it  was  to  be  through  the  despised  ver- 
nacular languages.  With  Manikan  as  helper,  Mr. 
Lund  set  himself  to  the  study  of  the  Visayan  language 
and  to  the  completion  of  the  Visayan  Gospel  already  begun 
while  in  Spain. 

Vernacular  Translations  of  the  New  Testament. 
During  the  first  ten  years  of  American  occupation  the 
Filipino  dialects  received  their  first  respectful  atten- 
tion. An  immense  amount  of  study  was  given  to 
them  and  the  ideas  regarding  the  possibilities  of  the 
dialects  modified.  The  educated  Filipinos  had  been 
ashamed  of  their  own  languages.  There  was  no  litera- 
ture in  any  of  them,  and  there  had,  of  course,  never 
been    a    translation    of    the    Bible    into    any    of    these 

R 


«56  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

dialects.  The  achievement  of  Mr.  Lund  is  a  triumph  of 
modern  scholarship.  In  a  time  that  would  be  deemed 
impossibly  brief  he  was  able  to  present  to  the  Visayans 
the  entire  New  Testament  in  their  own  tongue.  Be- 
cause of  his  perfect  mastery  of  Spanish  he  was  able 
to  explain  to  Spanish-speaking  Visayan  scholars  the 
sense  of  the  original,  verse  by  verse.  Through  com- 
parison of  all  the  best  translations  and  versions  with 
the  original  he  was  thus  enabled  to  be  sure  that  the 
translation  was  both  faithful  to  the  original  and  ex- 
pressed in  the  idiomatic  phrase  of  the  mother  tongue 
of  the  Visayans.  He  has  recently  completed  the  trans- 
lation of  the  entire  Bible  into  Visayan. 

The  Filipino  Languages.  Other  Protestant  mis- 
sionaries have  translated  the  Bible  into  Tagalog,  and 
Ilocano,  and  the  New  Testament  into  minor  Filipino 
dialects.  They  have  thus  performed  a  great  service, 
not  only  for  religion  and  social  progress,  but  also  for 
the  cementing  of  national  unity  and  the  dawn  of  na- 
tional self-respect.  So  long  had  the  Spanish  friars 
taught  the  Filipinos  to  scorn  their  own  language  that 
the  educated  people  were  ashamed  to  attend  a  meeting 
conducted  in  the  vernacular.  It  was  at  first  thought 
that  these  variant  forms  of  the  Malay  tongue  were  too 
meager,  too  rude,  too  primitive  to  permit  of  a  worthy 
translation  of  the  Bible.  "  As  a  matter  of  fact,"  says 
one  who  has  for  ten  years  used  the  vernacular  con- 
stantly, "  their  dialects  are  all  very  beautiful.  The 
vocabulary  is  large  and  expressive,  and  the  grammati- 
cal structure  is  very  wonderful  and  ingenious.  The 
Bible    loses    nothing    by    translation    into    the    oriental 


BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY  257 

imagery  of  the  Filipino  dialects.  The  gospel  that  was 
first  clothed  with  the  robe  of  parable  and  figure  is  at 
home  in  the  warmly  imaginative  speech  that  reflects 
the  luxuriant  verdure  of  the  tropics."  * 

Emergence  of  a  Unified  Language.  For  the  present 
the  Bible  must  be  translated  into  all  the  dialects,  but 
may  it  not  be  possible  that  ultimately  some  one  of 
these  may  become  the  dominant  language?  We  know 
that  there  were  many  dialects  of  early  English,  Ger- 
man, and  Italian,  which  gave  place  in  time  to  one 
form  of  speech.  When  it  is  considered  that  the  Vi- 
sayans  number  one-half  the  islanders,  and  that  many 
of  the  tribes  number  at  best  but  a  few  thousands,  it 
is  not  at  all  impossible  that  the  Visayan  dialect  may 
ultimately  assume  this  place.  The  translation  and 
circulation  of  the  Bible  will  be  very  powerful  factors 
in  the  outcome.  The  tribe  which  peruses  the  most 
newspapers,  and  fosters  the  circulation  of  the  Bible  and 
the  spread  of  education  will  probably  be  the  one  whose 
speech  survives.  Inasmuch  as  the  Tagalogs  and  Vi- 
sayans  are  found  intermingled  on  the  Visayan  Islands, 
it  may  be  that  the  final  form  of  language  will  be  a 
combination  of  these  two  dialects. 

Printing  of  the  Baptist  Version.  Most  of  the  ver- 
nacular translations  were  printed  jointly  for  the  mis- 
sions by  the  Bible  societies,  but  the  Baptists  gave 
themselves  the  pleasure  of  paying  for  their  own 
splendid  Visayan  version,  all  for  the  sake  of  the  privi- 
lege   of    translating    the    word    baptizo    by    the    word 

*  "  The  Progressing  Philippines,"  p.  143. 


258  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

"  immerse."  It  would  be  one  of  the  strange  turns  of  his- 
tory if  that  one  word  were  enough  to  prevent  the  wide- 
spread use  of  this  great  version,  and  therefore  the  ulti- 
mate triumph  of  the  Visayan  dialect.  One  thing  is 
sure,  that  that  Filipino  version  of  the  Bible  which  gets 
itself  most  widely  read  during  the  next  hundred  years, 
the  most  deeply  loved  and  best  committed  to  memory, 
is  the  version  that  will  do  for  the  Filipino  mother 
tongue  what  Luther's  Bible  did  for  the  German, 
Wyclif's  for  the  English,  and  Dante's  "  Divina  Com- 
media  "  for  the  Italian. 

Work  of  Padre  Juan.  Baptist  work  began  with  a 
great  spiritual  uprising  of  the  Visayan  peasants  in 
the  island  of  Panay.  Forty  or  fifty  years  before,  a 
wandering  friar  preacher  had  gone  throughout  the 
country  district  to  instruct  the  people  of  the  barrios 
in  the  holy  faith.  He  was  like  one  of  the  little  brown 
brothers  of  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  in  the  hill-towns  of 
Italy  in  the  thirteenth  century.  Poor,  simple,  hum- 
ble, and  loving,  he  threaded  his  way  from  barrio  to 
barrio.  He  had  one  story  to  tell,  the  love  of  Christ; 
one  book  to  read,  the  gospel.  The  poor  people,  who, 
like  most  of  the  barrio  dwellers,  had  been  utterly 
neglected  by  the  friars,  gathered  about  the  friendly 
brother  and  drank  in  this  wonderful  new  story  that  he 
told.  Sometimes  he  warned  them  dimly  of  trouble 
that  might  come  to  him,  and  prophesied  that  if  he 
should  be  imprisoned  for  teaching  them,  men  would 
come  some  day  from  across  the  sea  bearing  a  book 
and  speaking  of  the  love  of  God.  News  of  what  Friar 
John  was  doing  in  this  far-away  island  reached  Manila. 


BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY  259 

He  was  recalled  and  thrown  into  prison.  Some  said 
that  he  was  killed.  The  peasants  were  sternly  warned 
against  his  heresies  and  strictly  bidden  to  forget  them ; 
but  this  only  drove  his  teachings  deep  down  from  their 
stupid  brains  into  their  patient  hearts. 

Awakening  of  the  Peasants,  Now  Jaro  (pronounced 
haro)  is  a  great  market-place.  From  all  over  the 
province  of  Iloilo  come  the  barrio  folk  to  trade.  Thou- 
sands of  them  walk  into  market  every  week  with  their 
produce  on  their  shoulders.  The  market  is  to  them 
newspaper,  club,  social  relaxation,  as  well  as  trading- 
place.  When  Mr.  Briggs  and  Mr.  Lund  first  began 
to  preach  in  the  market-place  there  were  groups  of 
peasants  shyly  watching.  They  saw  the  book  in  their 
outstretched  hands,  they  heard,  in  their  own  tongue, 
of  the  love  of  God.  The  next  week  they  brought 
others  from  the  barrios.  The  news  spread  :  "  Padre  Juan's 
prophecy  has  come  true,  the  men  with  the  books  are 
come."  All  through  the  barrio  country  the  word  was 
carried,  and  multitudes  gathered  to  hear  the  missionaries. 

Presenting  of  the  Petition.  One  day,  after  the  mis- 
sionaries had  been  speaking  in  the  market-place  for 
about  nine  months  a  deputation  of  these  tazvos  brought 
them  a  document  signed  by  thirteen  thousand  names. 
The  undersigned,  so  the  document  read,  were  already 
Protestants,  and  wished  to  be  evangelized,  taught, 
and  protected  as  Protestants.  In  the  word  "  pro- 
tected "  their  Malay  instinct  and  experience  spoke 
true.  All  the  life  they  had  ever  known  had  needed 
the  protection  of  powerful  superiors  if  it  were  to  be 
safe.    The  vengeance  of  the  friars  they  well  understood. 


26o  FOLLOWL\G  THE  SUNRISE 

Inadequacy  of  the  Response.  Is  it  not  a  tragedy 
that  this  great  door  and  effectual  thus  opened  by  God 
could  not  have  been  enthusiastically  entered?  There 
was  no  question  here  of  proselyting  from  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  These  peasants  had  received  little 
shepherding  for  three  hundred  years.  They  were  so 
meagerly  instructed  in  the  essentials  of  Christianity 
that  they  hardly  knew  what  they  were.  They  came 
asking  for  preachers  and  teachers.  The  great  Baptist 
denomination  hardly  stirred  in  its  sleep.  To  be  sure 
it  sent  out  a  few  faithful  men  and  women,  who  have 
done  a  wonderful  work.  But  the  giant  strength  of 
the  denomination  was  not  in  any  measure  bent  to  this 
new  task.  Had  the  Baptists  been  ready  to  respond 
aggressively  to  this  appeal  with  sufficient  funds  and 
adequate  force  there  seems  little  doubt  that  the  barrio 
people  en  masse  would  have  moved  into  evangelical 
faith.  Money  was  wanting,  and  zeal ;  and  while  the 
churches  were  busy  here  and  there,  time  was  given 
for  a  counter-movement  to  arise,  and  some  doors  were 
closed.  Still  the  patient  people  wait,  in  great  spiritual 
destitution.  Glorious  results,  however,  have  followed 
the  sparse  sowing  of  the  field  which  the  small  and 
ofttimes  depleted  force  of  missionaries  has  been  able 
to  give  during  the  decade  just  past.  A  church  of  four 
thousand,  three  hundred  and  thirty-seven  membe's 
has  been  gathered,  one  for  every  day  of  the  time  spent 
on  the  islands.  The  barrio  people  have  built  and  paid 
for  their  own  chapels,  have  done  much  personal  work, 
have  stood  firm,  and  have  kept  the  faith  under  trying 
persecution. 


BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY 


261 


Growth  of  Baptist  Churches.  The  statistics  of  the 
growth  of  Baptist  churches  in  the  Phihppines,  as  ex- 
hibited in  the  accompanying  chart,  are  full  of  encour- 
agement to  larger  endeavor.  The  churches  have  in- 
creased since  1911  from  thirty-four  to  fifty-seven,  a 
gain  of  sixty-seven  per  cent.  Churches  entirely  self- 
supporting  number  seventeen  in  1913,  as  against  eight 


Number  of 
Communicants 


Number  of 
Churches 


Number  of 
■wholly  self- 
supporting 
Churches 


Number  of 

Sunday-school 

Members 


Number  of 
Sunday-schools 


Increase  : 


67  per  cent  112.5  per  cent  29  per  cent 


25  per  cent 


164  per  ce*^ 


Two  Years'  Growth  of  Baptist  Churches  in  the  Philippines. 


262  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

in  1911,  a  gain  of  one  hundred  and  twelve  and  five- 
tenths  per  cent.  Communicants  have  increased 
twenty-nine  per  cent,  ahnost  ten  per  cent  a  year,  grow- 
ing from  three  thousand,  three  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight  to  four  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirty-seven. 
In  1911  there  were  forty-four  Sunday-schools,  now 
there  are  fifty-five.  At  that  rate  they  would  double 
every  four  years.  The  gain  in  Sunday-school  mem- 
bership is  most  encouraging  of  all.  In  1911  the  forty- 
four  schools  averaged  twenty-three  pupils  each,  an 
aggregate  of  one  thousand  and  fourteen.  In  1913  the 
fifty-five  schools  averaged  not  quite  forty-eight  pupils 
each,  an  aggregate  of  two  thousand,  six  hundred  and 
eighty,  or  an  increase  of  one  hundred  and  sixty-four  per 
cent.  A  field  so  fruitful  that  it  responds  with  such 
harvests  to  the  sparse  sowing  given  it  through  ten  years 
ought  to  receive  more  enthusiastic  attention. 

The  Student  Dormitory,  or  Hostel.  One  form  of 
work  which  has  proved  very  valuable  was  first  intro- 
duced by  the  Baptists,  but  is  now  being  employed  by 
other  denominations  also.  In  Bacolod,  Mr.  Forshee 
conceived  the  idea  of  a  Christian  dormitory  for  pupils 
attending  the  public  high  school  of  the  province, 
which  brought  together  into  Bacolod  the  brightest 
boys  and  girls  of  the  surrounding  country.  A  dormi- 
tory for  boys  and  one  for  girls  have  been  established, 
and  during  this  last  year  land  has  been  bought  adjoin- 
ing the  high-school  compound,  where  it  is  proposed 
to  erect  larger  and  more  suitable  buildings  to  replace 
the  small  native  buildings  now  utilized  for  the  boys' 
dormitory. 


BOYS    OF   JARO    INDUSTRIAL   SCHOOL   AT    WORK 


A   VILLAGE   CONGREGATION    IN    THE    PHILIPPINES 


BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY  263 

Influence  of  the  Dormitory.  Says  Doctor  Lerrigo, 
in  speaking  of  the  boys'  dormitory  at  Iloilo : 

Many  of  the  dormitory  boys  are  on  the  high  school 
athletic  team  and  these  ties  give  us  a  strong  hold  on  the 
young  people,  which  we  are  strengthening  daily.  I  feel 
that  the  dormitory  is  a  most  important  part  of  our  work 
and  that  it  should  be  enlarged  and  every  advantage  taken 
of  the  influence  it  gives  us  with  the  students  and  their 
families.  The  prospects  for  the  coming  year  are  ex- 
cellent. A  large  number  of  boys  have  expressed  their 
desire  to  enter  the  dormitory,  and  the  teachers  in  charge 
of  the  athletics  are  hoping  to  place  the  whole  athletic 
team  wnth  us,  recognizing  the  great  advantages  which 
accrue  to  the  boys  from  the  wholesome  moral  surround- 
ings of  the  mission  dormitory. 

Industrial  School  at  Jaro.  Among  the  strong  fea- 
tures of  Baptist  educational  work  is  the  industrial 
school  at  Jaro.  One  of  the  fundamental  weaknesses 
of  Filipino  society  is  its  scorn  of  manual  labor.  As  in 
any  feudal  society,  the  laborer  is  looked  down  upon  as 
a  serf,  and  the  last  thing  that  any  educated  man  wants 
to  do  is  to  engage  in  skilled  labor.  One  of  the  benefits 
of  the  American  occupation  of  the  islands  is  the  im- 
parting of  a  new  view-point  in  regard  to  the  dignity 
of  labor.  The  Jaro  Industrial  School  was  founded  with 
the  idea  of  turning  out  not  merely  students,  but  manly 
men.  On  a  farm  of  sixty-five  acres,  some  two  miles 
out  of  Iloilo,  two  large  buildings  have  been  erected 
for  classrooms,  dormitories,  and  trades  buildings.  The 
equipment  has  often  been  so  meager  that  plain  living 
and   high   thinking  have  been  perhaps  too   much  in 


264  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

evidence,  yet  the  very  plainness  and  simplicity  of  the 
school  has  given  it  the  life  and  tang  that  Tuskegee 
and  Hampton  have  had  in  America. 

Nature  of  Industrial  Work.  There  are  five  hun- 
dred boys,  ranging  from  eight  to  eighteen  years  of  age, 
who  are  gathered  into  the  Jaro  Industrial  School  from 
the  near-by  provinces.  Tuition  and  board  are  free,  but 
each  boy  has  to  work  for  what  he  gets.  Here  is  no 
dilettante  manual  training  for  the  sake  of  learning 
how  a  thing  might  be  done.  Things  are  done,  and 
done  so  well  that  they  have  commercial  value.  Furni- 
ture is  made,  and  so  beautifully  polished  that  it  has  a 
reputation  and  sells.  Sugar-cane  is  cultivated,  and 
rice.  An  irrigation  system  has  been  introduced  that 
secures  superior  quality  in  both  rice  and  cane.  Live- 
stock is  raised,  and  buildings  are  repaired  and  erected. 
The  school  is  a  miniature  republic  too,  organized  some- 
what on  the  lines  of  the  Junior  Republics  in  Amer- 
ica, with  much  discipline  in  self-government  and  manli- 
ness, and  incidentally,  a  fine  experience  prepara- 
tory for  the  duties  of  citizenship.  There  are  daily 
Bible  classes  that  lead  not  to  talking  about  religion, 
but  to  the  conducting  of  village  Sunday-schools,  and 
to  vacation  evangelistic  trips  on  the  part  of  the  older 
boys.  Forty-eight  of  the  boys  were  baptized  last 
year.  They  are  now  planning  how  the  student  body 
may  be  instrumental  in  evangelizing  the  towns  from 
which  they.  come.  The  "  gang  instinct "  is  to  be  har- 
nessed up  for  the  service  of  the  Kingdom.  Already 
one  revival  has  been  reported  as  the  result  of  work 
done  in  vacation  by  some  of  the  Jaro  schoolboys. 


BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY  265 

Appreciation  of  the  School.  It  is  expected  that  in 
time  the  school  will  be  self-supporting,  except  for  the 
salaries  of  the  American  missionaries.  Even  now  the 
larger  number  of  the  teachers  are  Filipinos.  The  car- 
penter shop  already  pays  a  profit.  Mr.  William  T. 
Ellis,  writing  in  the  Philadelphia  "  Press,"  says  that 
it  is  the  best  school  in  the  islands.  The  secretary  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  affirms  that  it 
is  the  best  missionary  idea  in  the  Philippines.  A  dis- 
trict superintendent  of  schools  said  that  it  embodied 
the  very  idea  for  which  he  had  been  looking  ever  since 
he  came  to  the  country. 

Needs  of  the  School.  It  seems  a  pity,  does  it  not, 
that  with  such  a  school  to  be  proud  of,  one  million, 
five  hundred  thousand  American  Baptists  have  not  yet 
been  able  to  afford  a  grinding-mill  for  sugar-cane? 
To  be  sure  it  would  cost  five  hundred  dollars,  and  the 
budget  must  not  get  too  big.  But  the  request  sounds 
reasonable,  or  would  if  it  were  a  mere  business  enter- 
prise !    A  recent  report  states : 

Our  sugar-cane  is  a  very  fine  quality,  weighing  some 
thirteen  ounces  more  to  the  cane  than  it  did  last  year,  all 
on  account  of  irrigation.  Where  we  lose  is  in  sending 
this  cane  to  a  mill  across  the  river.  The  price  of  grind- 
ing it  is  at  least  one-third  the  value  of  the  sugar,  and  we 
must  add  to  this  the  cost  of  transporting  to  the  mill.  .  .  If 
we  had  a  small  mill  costing  about  $500  all  this  would  be 
saved. 

The  supplying  of  this  minor  need  by  some  good 
sisters  with  a  practical  turn  of  mind  ought  not  to 
interfere  in  the  least  with  plans  for  meeting  the  needs 


266  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

of  this  significant  school  for  adequate  equipment.  Lit- 
erally hundreds  of  students  are  turned  away  each  year 
for  lack  of  buildings  and  land.  One  hundred  thousand 
dollars  invested  here  would  bless  the  islands  through 
centuries  to  come.  The  returns  on  such  an  invest- 
ment cannot  be  exceeded  anywhere  in  the  mission  field 
to-day. 

Girls'  Schools  in  the  Philippines.  There  are  some 
notable  developments  in  Baptist  educational  work  for 
girls  in  the  Philippines.  The  Filipino  woman  is,  with- 
out doubt,  the  most  influential  and  the  freest  woman 
of  the  Orient.  She  can  be  made  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful evangelizing  agencies,  as  she  is  now  the  strong- 
hold of  conservatism  and  ignorance.  One  of  the  Bap- 
tist missionaries  writes  that  he  is  rejoicing  because 
forty-two  per  cent  of  recent  converts  have  been  wo- 
men, and  this  means  a  gain  in  the  number  of  fam- 
ilies reached.  There  can  be  no  permanent  work  with- 
out reaching  the  families,  and  much  of  the  labor  ex- 
pended upon  the  education  of  boys  and  men  is  wasted 
unless  corresponding  emphasis  is  given  to  the  enlight- 
enment of  the  girls  and  women. 

Bible-Woman's  Training  School  at  Jaro.  The  Bible- 
woman's  Training  School  in  Jaro  is  doing  a  work  of 
incalculable  good  in  the  training  of  Bible-women,  who 
go  out  to  the  barrios  scattered  over  three  islands  to  do 
direct  evangelistic  work.  The  term  of  instruction  is 
for  six  months  each  year,  the  other  half-year  being 
spent  in  practical  work  on  the  field.  The  full  course 
covers  four  years.  The  first  class  of  fully  trained 
workers  was  graduated  in   1911.     These  women  are 


BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY  267 

trained  not  only  in  the  Bible  and  Christian  funda- 
mentals, but  in  home  nursing-,  first  aid  to  the  injured, 
Sunday-school  work,  and  the  first  principles  of  do- 
mestic science.  One  of  these  trained  women,  a  widow 
of  forty-five  (a  great-grandmother,  by  the  way),  has 
a  Bible  class  of  sixty  men  in  a  church  of  five  hundred 
members.  Other  women  are  carrying  on  day-schools, 
kindergartens,  Sunday-schools,  preaching  services,  and 
colportage  work  in  the  sale  of  Christian  literature. 
**  The  school,"  says  Miss  Johnson,  "  would  increase 
by  the  hundreds  if  there  were  buildings  and  teachers 
to  care  for  the  students."  Every  year  she  has  had  to 
refuse  admission  to  large  numbers. 

School  for  Upper  Class  Girls.  In  the  same  place  the 
Woman's  Society  has  opened  a  boarding-school  for 
the  mestizo  girls  of  the  upper  classes.  The  school  was 
organized  by  Miss  Bissinger  in  1910  with  these  aims: 
"  First,  direct  religious  instruction,  aiming  to  develop 
a  womanhood  of  serving  Christians,  saturated  through 
and  through  with  the  atmosphere  of  the  kingdom  of 
God.  Second,  a  full  public  school  course  from  first 
grade  to  the  high  school,  aiming  to  make  our  students 
dominant  factors  in  a  land  peculiarly  fitted  to  be  influ- 
enced by  its  women." 

Pupils  in  the  School.  Miss  Bissinger  says  that  she 
finds  the  girls  peculiarly  teachable  and  incomparably 
lovable.  In  the  very  first  class  were  the  daughters  of 
the  governor  of  the  island.  The  school  was  at  once 
antagonized  by  a  Romanist  bishop,  himself  an  Ameri- 
can, and  the  people  forbidden  to  come  to  the  opening 
reception — but  they  came. 


268  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Needs  of  the  School.  The  greatest  need  at  present 
is  a  suitable  building.  Land  has  been  bought,  but  the 
school  is  housed  in  a  rented  building.  In  Miss  Bis- 
singer's  appeal  for  the  building  she  says  that  this,  the 
only  Christian  school  for  girls  of  the  upper  classes  in 
the  Philippines,  ought  to  have  a  suitable  building.  She 
has  very  definite  ideas,  and  very  good  ones,  of  the  type 
of  building  that  is  needed.  It  ought  to  be  of  concrete 
in  order  to  withstand  the  onslaught  of  the  terrible 
storms  to  which  the  Philippine  Islands  are  subject. 
It  ought  to  be  beautiful,  even  ornate,  in  order  to  evi- 
dence to  the  people  the  dignity  and  the  quality  of  the 
work.  If  they  find  the  buildings  of  the  Catholic 
schools  large  and  massive,  and  the  Protestant  school 
housed  in  a  small  and  unattractive  temporary  shelter, 
the  people  reason,  not  unnaturally,  that  the  enterprise 
itself  must  be  of  little  moment. 

Home  School  at  Capiz.  At  Capiz  the  Woman's 
Society  has  maintained  a  unique  institution,  the  Home 
School.  Little  waifs  and  the  children  of  the  very  poor, 
between  the  ages  of  four  and  seven,  are  taken  to  the 
home  to  be  sheltered  and  educated  until  old  enough  to 
go  to  work^  or  to  be  placed  in  other  schools.  "  Ah," 
says  the  suspicious  reader,  "  an  orphan  asylum.  I 
thought  they  were  thoroughly  out  of  date."  It  may 
look  a  little  like  an  orphan  asylum  on  the  surface,  but 
there  the  likeness  ends.  If  all  the  waifs  and  orphans 
in  the  United  States  of  America  could  have  a  Miss 
Suman  in  such  an  asylum  there  would  be  no  problem 
of  the  delinquent  child,  for  the  school  really  is  a  home, 
bubbling   with    laughter,    blossoming   with    motherly 


•      BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY  269 

kisses  and  cuddlings,  strong  with  wise  discipline.  The 
results  are  little  short  of  miraculous. 

Brownies  at  Work.  "  These  degenerate  Filipinos 
won't  work,"  say  the  critics.  You  should  see  Miss 
Suman's  Brownies !  She  takes  them,  diseased,  emaci- 
ated, filthy  in  speech  and  body,  cleans  them  up,  clothes 
them,  and  sets  them — no,  not  sets  them,  but  loves 
them,  into  work.  "  Of  course  they  don't  like  to  work," 
she  bristles  like  a  small,  motherly  hen,  whose  chickens 
are  menaced,  "  when  all  the  work  they  ever  knew 
about  was  done  for  others'  profit,  with  little  but  kicks 
and  curses  coming  their  way."  It's  a  heart-warming 
sight  to  see  those  Brownies  at  work,  each  child,  even 
the  tiniest  tot  of  three,  with  its  task.  They  prepare 
the  vegetables,  help  get  the  meals,  make  the  gardens, 
keep  the  house  clean,  make  all  their  clothes,  and  wash 
and  iron  them.  They  are  as  busy  as  bees,  and  happy 
as  birds.  A  squad  of  four  and  six-year-olds  has  a 
leader  aged  ten,  who  is  responsible  for  his  men.  Be- 
fore any  one  even  heard  of  the  Montessori  system. 
Miss  Suman  was  putting  into  practice  the  very  prin- 
ciples of  self-activity  and  development  through  re- 
sponsibility that  are  supposed  to  be  so  very  scientific 
and  modern.  When  a  cyclone  blew  away  her  roof, 
twelve-year-old  boys,  tied  to  the  rafters  lest  they  blow 
away,  worked  like  soldiers  to  repair  the  breach.  In- 
itiative, daring,  steadiness,  and  mental  alertness  are 
all  to  be  seen  hanging  thick  as  precious  fruit  on  her 
educational  tree. 

Religious  Atmosphere  of  the  School.  All  her  chil- 
dren   become    Christians.      A    recent    report    said    that 


270  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE      • 

there  were  not  very  many  baptisms  to  report  because 
all  the  children  old  enough  to  understand  had  already 
joined  the  church.  Some  of  these  little  children  make 
great  missionaries  too.  Miss  Suman  told  of  one  little 
blind  beggar,  so  wretched  that,  to  practical  people,  he 
would  hardly  seem  worth  saving,  who  fearlessly  found 
his  way  to  a  head-hunting  tribe  in  the  mountains  that 
the  government  had  been  unable  to  pacify,  explained 
to  them  the  purpose  of  the  government,  and  brought 
them  to  consent  to  let  their  children  come  down  to  school. 

Need  of  New  Buildings.  Two  terrible  hurricanes 
that  have  wrecked  the  buildings  and  inflicted  great 
suffering  on  teachers  and  pupils  have  proved  the  need 
for  strong  cement  buildings,  with  iron  roofs,  such  as 
the  government  finds  are  needed  to  resist  the  tropical 
storms  to  which  the  Philippines  are  so  subject.  Who 
is  going  to  have  the  privilege  of  building  this  house? 
It  costs  twenty  dollars  a  year  to  support  a  child  in  this 
school.  Are  there  not  a  hundred  Baptist  Sunday- 
schools  that  will  each  take  a  scholarship  at  twenty 
dollars,  and  so  provide  for  the  whole?  An  extra  five 
dollars  added  to  each  scholarship  would  provide  for 
enlargement  and  betterment,  and  would  not  be  out  of 
place. 

Medical  Missions.  Medical  missions  form  one  of  the 
great  needs  of  the  Philippines.  The  misery,  dirt,  and 
disease  of  the  people  are  appalling.  The  Christian 
physician  can  do  much,  both  as  an  evangelist,  and  in 
removing  the  present  evil  conditions  which  make 
wholesome  life  impossible  for  multitudes.  The  birth- 
rate in  the  Philippines  is  large,  forty-seven  and  nine- 


BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY  271 

hundredths  per  thousand ;  but  the  infantile  death-rate 
is  nearly  twice  as  great  as  that  in  the  United  States. 
The  old  religious  training  of  the  islands  had  little  of 
social  service  in  it.  The  emphasis  of  the  friars  had 
been  on  "  spiritualities,  not  temporalities."  Hence  the 
islands  had  been  left  to  become  one  of  the  plague 
centers  of  the  world.  Tuberculosis  is  everywhere,  the 
hookworm  with  its  consequent  tropical  anemia  is  so 
prevalent  that  it  is  said  that  eighty  per  cent  of  the 
prisoners  in  Manila  jail  were  found  to  be  infected. 
Malaria  and  tropical  dysentery  are  endemic.  Surely 
the  very  physical  suffering  and  ignorance  of  the  peo- 
ple constitute  an  overwhelming  appeal  to  the  Chris- 
tian physicians  of  the  United  States,  where  there  is 
one  physician  to  every  five  hundred  of  the  popula- 
tion. Some  of  them  could  be  spared.  The  mis- 
sionary hospitals  have  done  magnificent  service  in 
interpreting  true  Christianity  as  a  religion  that  came 
not  merely  to  get  people  to  heaven,  but  to  heal  the 
broken-hearted,  to  make  the  deaf  hear,  the  lame  walk, 
the  blind  see,  and  to  set  at  liberty  them  that  are 
bruised.  The  Baptist  physicians.  Doctor  Lerrigo,  Doc- 
tor Thomas,  and  Doctor  Steinmetz  have  found  homes 
open  to  them  that  were  fast  closed  to  all  the  other 
missionaries.  They  testify  that  there  is  an  appalling 
need  of  medical  care.  There  are  towns  which,  with 
their  surrounding  barrio  districts,  number  fifty  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  utterly  without  medical  aid  of  any 
sort.  The  Filipino  doctors  are  not  numerous,  arc  for 
the  most  part  in  the  cities,  and  few  of  them  have  any 
humane  ideals  which  require  them  to  go  to  the  service 
s 


2^2  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

of  the  poor  /azco.  The  gratitude  of  these  peasants 
when  they  see  an  educated  physician  willing  to  min- 
ister to  them  in  their  suffering  in  the  humblest  tasks 
is  beautiful  to  see.  "  Jesus  walks  again  on  earth,"  they 
say. 

Union  Hospital,  Interdenominational  cooperation 
in  hospital  building  and  maintenance  is  already  accom- 
plished in  the  Union  Hospital  at  Iloilo,the  joint  respon- 
sibility of  Presbyterians  and  Baptists.  Doctor  Lerrigo 
reports  that  the  current  expenses  of  the  hospital  and 
dispensary  at  Capiz  are  all  met  by  medical  fees.  One 
gains  some  insight  into  the  self-sacrifice  and  devotion 
of  the  medical  missionary,  on  learning  that  Doctor 
Lerrigo,  in  addition  to  treating  eight  thousand,  eighty- 
five  out-patients,  two  thousand,  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  in-patients,  and  making  six  hundred  and  seventy- 
two  visits  to  patients  in  their  homes,  supervised  a 
large  evangelistic  field  and  had  oversight  of  the  boys' 
dormitory. 

Training  School  for  Nurses.  One  of  the  most  useful 
functions  of  the  medical  work  is  the  training  of  nurses. 
The  first  class  of  nurses  graduated  in  the  Philippines 
was  trained  in  the  Union  Hospital  at  Iloilo.  The 
Filipino  woman  makes  a  good  nurse,  and  every  nurse 
is  an  apostle  of  better  times  to  come.  The  earnest 
Christian  students  from  Miss  Johnson's  Bible  Training 
School  who  come  to  the  hospital  for  training  make 
ideal  nurses.  Their  opportunity  for  Christian  service 
is  very  great,  as  they  have  access  into  the  most  bigoted 
homes,  at  a  time  when  they  are  peculiarly  open  to 
spiritual  influences.    In  one  of  his  reports  Doctor  Ler- 


ox    THE    VERANDA    OF    THE    UNION    HOSPITAL    AT    U.OKO 


A   GIRLS     BIBLE   CLASS    IN    THE   PHILIPPINES 


BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY  273 

rigo  speaks  with  the  greatest  admiration  of  the  work 
of  Miss  Rose  Nicolet,  the  head  nurse  of  Emmanuel 
Hospital  in  Capiz. 

The  building  with  all  its  virtues  was  wanting  in  bath- 
rooms and  those  little  closets  and  storerooms  dear  to 
the  hearts  of  all  women.  .  .  Those  useful  acces- 
sories of  modern  nursing  made  their  appearance,  bath- 
rooms with  home-made  cement  tubs,  closets  here  and 
there  with  shelves  and  compartments  for  linens  and 
supplies,  .  .  curious  devices  of  many  kinds,  owing  them- 
selves to  her  wisdom  and  ingenuity.  Little  bedside  tables 
have  been  introduced,  screens  of  superior  pattern  and 
graceful  frames  to  support  mosquito-nettings.  .  .  A 
young  Filipino  who  had  been  in  America  and  traveled 
widely  in  the  Philippines  recently  gave  this  testimony: 
"  I  have  been  in  several  hospitals  both  here  and  in  Amer- 
ica and  my  stay  here  has  pleased  me  better  than  any  pre- 
vious experience." 

Bible  School  at  Iloilo.  In  accordance  with  the  policy 
of  concentration  and  intensive  development  recently 
adopted  by  the  Board,  the  Bible  School  at  Iloilo  for 
the  training  of  native  pastors  and  evangelists  is  to  be 
given  up  for  the  present.  Brief  courses  in  Bible  study 
are  to  be  offered  by  the  missionaries  in  the  different 
stations.  In  the  near  future  it  is  hoped  that  the  mis- 
sion may  unite  with  the  Presbyterians  in  establishing 
one  central  Bible  Training  School,  where,  with  a  larger 
number  of  students,  and  with  greater  efficiency  and 
less  expense  the  workers  for  both  denominations  can 
be  trained. 

The  Mission  Press  at  Iloilo.  The  Baptist  Mission 
Press  at  Iloilo,  Mr,  F.  L.  Snyder,  superintendent,  is  a 


274  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

powerful  factor  in  the  work.  Here  is  printed  the  little 
monthly  called  "  The  Pearl  of  the  Orient,"  that  circu- 
lates not  only  in  the  field,  but  goes  to  supporters  in 
the  homeland.  Commercial  work  of  good  grade  is 
done  which  helps  to  carry  the  financial  burden  of  the 
press.  Testaments,  tracts,  and  a  monthly  magazine 
in  Visayan,  also  Sunday-school  helps  and  quarterlies, 
and  school  outlines  for  the  missionaries,  are  among 
the  lines  of  work  which  keep  the  busy  presses  going. 

Need  of  an  Aggressive  Policy.  What  of  the  future? 
To  the  Baptists  and  Presbyterians  has  been  committed 
the  work  on  the  Visayan  islands.  By  vote  of  the 
Mission  and  the  Board  of  Managers  the  Baptists  de- 
cided not  to  enter  the  island  of  Samar,  but  to  confine 
their  work  to  Panay  and  Negros.  On  these  two  islands 
live  about  a  million  people,  for  whom  Baptists  are 
solely  responsible.  It  is  plain  that  only  a  beginning 
has  been  made  in  discharging  this  responsibility. 
What  could  eight  ministers,  four  physicians,  one 
printer,  nine  school-teachers,  and  one  nurse  do  to  meet 
the  spiritual  needs  of  a  million  people?  This  force  of 
twenty-six  missionaries,  moreover,  can  rarely  muster 
more  than  half  its  strength  on  the  field,  owing  to  the 
necessity  of  furloughs  and  the  heavy  drain  made  upon 
health  and  strength  by  the  climate. 

Comparison  with  Methodist  Work.  The  wasteful- 
ness of  such  scant  provision  of  men  and  funds  is  ap- 
parent when  we  consider  the  story  of  the  Methodist 
missions  in  the  Philippines.  The  Methodists,  with  a 
force  of  forty-five  missionaries,  a  large  corps  of  native 
helpers,  and  adequate  financial  backing,  have  gained  a 


BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY  275 

membership  of  thirty-three  thousand.  They  have 
eleven  thousand  pupils  in  the  Sunday-schools.  The 
self-supporting  Filipino  churches  contributed  more 
than  ten  thousand  dollars  the  last  year,  and  the  mis- 
sion received  in  contributions  from  friends  and  sup- 
porters in  the  Philippines  double  that  amount  in  addi- 
tion. They  had  no  better  native  material  to  work 
upon  than  had  the  Baptists,  nor  had  they  better  mis- 
sionaries. They  were  better  supported  by  larger  plans 
and  more  adequate  financial  contributions.  Says  the 
Baptist  missionary,  Mr.  C.  W.  Briggs,  "  The  achieve- 
ments of  this  great  mission  (Methodist)  in  twelve 
years  of  work  are  a  challenge  to  the  Church  in  America 
to  occupy  every  unoccupied  field." 

The  Unreached  Field.  None  of  the  missions  is 
meeting  the  need.  The  Methodists  are  responsible 
for  two  million  Filipinos ;  the  Presbyterians  for  three 
and  a  half  millions.  When  one  contrasts  what  Ameri- 
can churches  have  done  for  the  spiritual  regeneration 
of  the  Philippines  with  what  the  American  Govern- 
ment has  done  in  education  and  social  betterment,  the 
showing  is  not  one  in  which  Christians  can  take  pride. 

Government  Services  in  Education.  When  the  five 
hundred  and  forty-two  American  school-teachers  were 
landed  in  Manila  from  the  transport  "  Thomas," 
August  23,  1901,  there  began  the  most  striking  experi- 
ment in  popular  education  which  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  There  are  in  the  Philippines  about  one  thousand 
American  teachers,  and  eight  times  as  many  Filipino 
teachers,  with  six  hundred  and  ten  thousand  pupils. 
There  are  thirty-five  provincial  high  schools,  and  the 


2^6  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

foundations  of  the  government  university  of  the  Phil- 
ippines are  already  laid.  Religious  liberty  and  free 
education  were  both  the  gifts  of  the  flag.  So  successful 
has  the  public  school  system  proved  that  already  a 
surprisingly  large  percentage  of  the  Filipinos  are 
literate. 

Government  Work  in  Sanitation.  The  government 
found  Manila  one  of  the  most  unhcalthful  cities  in 
the  world,  and  has  made  it  one  of  the  most  healthful 
cities  in  the  tropics.  Government  medical  men  have 
deprived  smallpox  of  its  terrors  by  the  vaccination  of 
millions  of  Filipinos.  The  cause  of  beriberi  has  been 
discovered,  and  the  way  to  avoid  it  shown.  The  num- 
ber of  lepers  is  rapidly  decreasing,  since  the  govern- 
ment has  made  provision  for  their  segregation.  A 
campaign  for  fighting  tuberculosis  has  been  inaugu- 
rated, and  the  plague  has  been  controlled. 

Industrial  Betterment.  The  government  bought  the 
friar  lands — great  estates  of  the  richest  lands  which 
were  held  away  from  the  people — and  resold  these 
lands  to  settlers  in  severalty.  It  has  already  received 
sixty  million  dollars  in  payment,  thirty  per  cent  of 
the  price  paid.  The  government  guarantees  land  titles. 
Harbors  have  been  deepened,  very  perfect  government 
roads  built  and  railways  on  three  islands.  River  chan- 
nels have  been  cleared,  and  a  post-office  system  was  es- 
tablished with  a  postal  savings  bank  four  years  before 
people  had  it  in  the  United  States.  One  hundred  and 
forty-two  lighthouses  have  been  built  to  safeguard  the 
treacherous  channels,  and  Filipinos  have  been  trained 
to  be  the  lighthouse  keepers.     A  revenue  system  has 


BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY  2^7 

been  perfected  that  enables  the  island  treasury  to 
report  a  balance  every  year.  All  this  has  been  done  at 
the  cost  of  a  bonded  indebtedness  of  only  twelve  million 
dollars,  involving  a  per  capita  debt  of  one  dollar  and 
fifty  cents,  and  a  per  capita  interest  charge  of  six  cents. 
All  the  annual  budget  of  fourteen  million  dollars  is 
provided  for  by  the  resources.  With  the  exception  of 
the  three  hundred  millions  paid  out  by  the  United 
States  Government  in  the  beginning  for  army  and  navy 
expenses,  no  money  raised  in  America  is  used  for  the 
running  of  the  Philippine  Government.  It  is  Filipino 
taxes  which  provide  for  the  schools,  roads,  post-offices, 
lighthouses,  hospitals,  and  all  other  government  un- 
dertakings. A  better  article  of  government  is  provided 
and  more  for  less  money  than  anj'-  other  colonial  power 
has  ever  given  to  one  of  its  colonies.  There  is  no  great 
army  of  American  office-holders ;  just  as  fast  as  Filipinos 
can  be  trained  for  positions  these  are  filled  by  Filipinos. 
The  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  is  a  Filipino. 
There  are  Filipino  assemblymen  and  postmasters,  jus- 
tices of  the  peace  and  policemen,  lawyers,  civil  officers, 
and  teachers.  With  the  American  occupancy  of  the 
Philippines  a  new  type  of  colony  came  into  being,  the 
nearest  approach  to  the  Good  Samaritan  in  politics  that 
the  world  has  ever  seen. 

Opportunity  of  American  Christians.  These  achieve- 
ments of  our  government  cause  every  American  heart 
to  thrill  with  pride.  But  what  is  needed  to  make  all 
this  magnificent  work  permanently  valid?  The  crea- 
tion of  a  new  type  of  character.  The  one  power  which 
can  do  this  is  the  pure  gospel  of  Christ.    The  time  is 


278  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

short,  m  the  few  generations  that  must  elapse  before 
the  Philippine  Islands  are  given  over  to  the  Filipinos 
for  complete  self-government,  it  is  for  the  American 
church  to  do  a  work  which  the  government  is  helpless 
to  accomplish.  The  apathy,  selfishness,  and  narrow- 
ness of  vision  of  the  Christian  church  may  stamp  with 
failure  the  most  lively  experiment  in  national  altru- 
ism that  the  world  now  holds.  The  Church  must 
not  fail  "  Old  Glory."  She  must  not  fail  her  Divine 
Leader,  whose  heavenly  Kingdom  waits  its  consum- 
mation because  of  her  sloth  and  faithlessness. 

Facts  About  the  Philippines 

The  most   recent   foreign   mission   field. 

The  most  fruitful  foreign  mission  field. 

Protestant  Christians  in  1900,  none. 

Protestant  Christians  in  1910,  76,000. 

There  are  55,000  Chinese  in  the  Philippines,  who  control  90 
per  cent  of  retail  trade. 

There  are  167  Protestant  missionaries  in  the  islands. 

The  English  language  is  more  widely  diffused  in  ten  years  than 
Spanish  was  in  three  hundred  years. 

Cost  to  United  States  of  America  of  insurrectionary  period, 
$300,000,000. 

Baptists  responsible  for  evangelization  of  1,000,000  Filipinos. 

Baptist  investment  in  1912,  $55,725.71. 

Theological  students  of  the  Presbyterian,  Methodist,  and  Dis- 
ciples are  taught  in  union  theological  classes. 


BUTTRESSING  DEMOCRACY  279 

Baptist  Educational  Institutions  in  the  Philippines 

Industrial  School,  Jaro.  Rev.  W.  O.  Valentine,  principal;  Rev. 
F.  H.  Rose,  Miss  A.  B.  Honger,  Miss  E.  Grace  Williams, 
Miss  Mary  J.  Thomas,  American  members  of  faculty. 

Enrolment,  349  pupils.  Instruction  in  scientific  agriculture, 
carpentry,  cotton-ginning,  etc.  All  the  500  boys  in  this  im- 
portant school  are  taught  some  industry.  The  students  are  a 
self-governing  body,  organized  into  the  Jaro  Industrial  School 
Republic.     A  new  building  is  greatly  needed. 

Woman's  Bible  Training  School.  Miss  Anna  V.  Johnson, 
principal. 

Only  school  for  the  training  of  Bible-women  in  the  Visayan 
islands  group. 

Academy  for  Girls,  Iloilo.     Miss  Caroline  M.  Bissinger,  princi- 
pal; Miss  Alice  M.  Stanard. 
Only  school  in  the  Philippines  for  girls  of  the  higher  classes. 


BiBLIOGEAPHY 

Blount,    The   American    Occupation     of   the   Philippines.    New 
York,  Putnams. 

Census  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  4  Vols.     Vol.  I,   Population, 

geography,  history.    Vol.  II,  Population.    Vol.  Ill,  Mortality, 

defective  classes,  education,  families.     Vol.  IV,  Agriculture, 

social  and  industrial  statistics. 

A    valuable    source   book    for   official    information   on   varied 

features  of  the  islands  and  the  people.    Washington  Government 

Printing  Office,  1905. 

Briggs,    The    Progressing    Philippines.      Philadelphia,    American 
Baptist  Publication  Society,  1913. 
A  recent  book,  attractive  and  informing,  especially  upon  pres- 
ent conditions. 


28o  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

Brown,  A  New  Era  in  the  Philippines.    New  York,  Revell,  1903. 

Missions  in  the  Philippines.     Boston,  American  Baptist  Foreign 
Mission  Society,  1906. 

Jaro  Industrial  School.    Boston,  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mis- 
sion Society. 

The    Kindergarten    a    Factor   in    Missionary    Work.      Boston, 
American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society. 

World  Missionary  Conference  Report.    Chapter  I,  pp.  121-124. 


LIMITATIONS  OF  PRESENT  STUDY 

In  swift  review  we  have  watched  the  movement  of 
Baptist  missions  in  the  Orient  through  a  century.  It 
was  hoped  to  include  in  the  present  volume  a  study  of 
Baptist  missions  in  Europe,  but  it  was  found  imprac- 
ticable, even  to  tell  in  brief  the  story  of  missionary 
effort  in  Spain,  Italy,  France,  Germany,  Russia,  and 
Scandinavia.  It  would  be  an  inspiring-  study  to  trace 
the  reflex  influence  of  American  Baptists  on  the  coun- 
tries from  which  emigrants  come,  but  that  is  a  story 
which  would  need  an  entire  volume. 

As  we  look  back  over  a  century  filled  with  the  mercy 
of  God,  over  weak  enterprises  which  he  has  strength- 
ened, feeble  beginnings  which  he  has  brought  to  glori- 
ous outcome,  the  whole  denomination  must  receive  a 
fresh  baptism  of  power.  If  so  much  has  been  done 
through  the  partial  consecration,  the  fitful  endeavor, 
what  might  he  not  do  through  a  church  alive  to  her 
high  calling.    Three  needs  stand  forth. 

The  Need  of  Money.  One  of  the  tragedies  of  life  is 
the  wasting  of  money — such  wealth  and  such  need 
drifting  helplessly  by  each  other  like  ships  becalmed. 
The  giant  power  of  the  Church  is  poured  out  on  trifles; 
while  for  her  great  task  she  reserves  only  her  mites. 
It  would  be  quite  possible,  out  of  the  selfish  indul- 
gences of  Christians,  to  finance  every  missionary  enter- 

281 


282  FOLLOWING  THE  SUNRISE 

prise  tenfold.  The  kingdom  might  come  bravely- 
marching  over  the  mountains  to-morrow,  if  the  full 
tithe  were  poured  into  the  treasury  of  the  Church.  Rev. 
O.  P.  Gifford  once  said  that  money  was  the  true  polyglot 
answering  each  man  in  his  own  tongue.  Christians 
could  make  it  speak  first  of  the  kingdom,  if  they  would. 

The  Need  of  Sacrifice.  In  the  face  of  the  unbeliev- 
able opportunities  of  the  present  there  is  demanded  a 
new  measure  of  adventurous  faith — some  such  pas- 
sion of  sacrifice  as  made  men  and  women  brave  and 
fearless  in  the  war  of  the  rebellion.  What  is  needed 
is  not  a  calculating  sending  out  of  small  parties  of 
scouts,  but  a  massing  of  the  whole  army  for  advance. 
Each  church  must  have  its  investment  of  life;  each 
family  its  ofTering  of  the  first-born.  It  is  the  King's 
business  that  we  do. 

The  Need  of  Prayer.  The  water  of  life  in  the  hills  of 
God  can  be  brought  to  the  desert  by  free  channels  of 
prayer.  A  break  in  the  higher  conduits  means  drought 
in  the  fields  below.  To  change  the  figure,  the  plants 
of  the  Spirit  cannot  grow  in  a  prayerless  atmosphere. 
A  revival  of  intercessory  prayer  could  double  the  efTect- 
iveness  of  the  missionary  force  without  the  addition 
of  a  new  man  or  a  better  building.  Let  the  church- 
member  at  home  realize  his  missionary  calling  to 
prayer  to  be  as  compelling  and  as  arduous  as  that  of 
tlie  foreign  missionary  to  work.  Let  both  recognize 
that  there  is  only  one  Christian  calling,  though  many 
occupations;  that  the  power  of  God  is  behind   and 


LIMITATIONS  OF  PRESENT  STUDY      283 

underneath  every  man  who  adventures  himself  upon  it. 
Let  the  devotional  exercises  that  decorate,  but  do  not  en- 
liven missionary  meetings,  be  replaced  by  real  prayer  for 
actual  needs  of  concrete  mission  fields.  Let  Christians 
enter  into  the  secret  place  of  power  through  intercessory 
prayer,  and  a  new  sunrise  of  beatitude  will  glorify  the 
whole   church   of    God. 


SUPPLEMENTARY  REFERENCES 

General 

Patterson,   Geography   of  India.     London,   Christian   Literature 

Society   for   India,   1909. 
Statesman's  Year  Book.     London,  Macmillan  Company,  1913. 
World  Missionary   Conference,   1910,   Reports.     Nine   volumes. 
New  York,   Revell,   1910. 
Invaluable  for  knowledge  of  the  real  situation  in  lands  treated 
by  this  book. 

World  Atlas  of  Christian  Missions.    New  York,  Student  Volun- 
teer Movement,  191 1. 
Contains  a  directory  of  missionary  societies,  a  classified  sum- 
mary of  statistics,  an  index  of  mission  stations,  and  maps  show- 
ing the  location  of  mission  stations  throughout  the  world. 

Periodical  Literature 

Missionary  Review  of  the  World.  New  York,  Funk  &  Wagnalls 
Company. 

International  Review  of  Missions.  New  York,  Missionary  Edu- 
cation Movement. 

The  Moslem  World.  London,  Christian  Literature  Society  for 
India. 

English  Periodicals  in  our  Missions.  See  Handbook  of  Ameri- 
can Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society,  p.  72. 

Baptist  Work 

Newman,  A  Century  of  Baptist  Achievement.  Philadelphia, 
American  Baptist   Publication   Society,   1901. 

Merriam,  History  of  American  Baptist  Missions.  Revised  Edi- 
tion with  Centennial  Supplement,  Philadelphia,  American 
Baptist  Publication  Society,  1913. 

284 


SUPPLEMENTARY  REFERENCES         285 

Gammell,  History  of  American  Baptist  Missions.  Boston,  1854. 
Serviceable  for  certain  facts,  especially  statistics  of  the  early 
period. 

Annual  Reports  of: 

Northern   Baptist   Convention. 

American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society. 

Woman's  Baptist  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 

Woman's  Baptist  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  West. 

The  Handbook  of  the  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society, 
Boston,  1913. 
A  story  of  the  year  in  the  words  of  the  missionaries;  illustra- 
tions of  the  work;  complete  list  of  fields  and  stations;  brief 
description  of  every  mission  station ;  complete  directory  of  mis- 
sionaries; accurate,  colored  maps.  An  indispensable  help  in  this 
study. 

Our  Work  in  the  Orient.     Boston,  1910-1913. 

An  account  of  the  progress  of  the  Woman's  Baptist  Foreign 
Missionary  Society. 

Missions.     A  Baptist  monthly  magazine.     Boston. 

A  current  record  of  Baptist  progress  at  home  and  abroad ; 
having  special  articles  on  many  phases  of  the  work  treated  in 
this  book;  profusely  illustrated  with  many  photographs  taken 
on  the  field.     An  essential  side-light  on  the  topics  treated. 

For  special  phases,  see  publications  of  American  Baptist 
Foreign  Mission  Society,  Woman's  Baptist  Foreign  Missionary 
Society,  and  Woman's  Baptist  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
of  the  West,  and  Department  of  Missionary  Education,  23  East 
Twenty-sixth  Street,  New  York. 

Several  of  the  books  and  items  referred  to  in  the  bibliographi- 
cal notes  can  be  secured  from  the  Department  of  Missionary 
Education,  23  East  Twenty-sixth  Street,  New  York. 

There  are  many  more  valuable  helps  illustrative  of  separate 
chapters  concerning  which  information  can  be  had,  or  which 
can  be  consulted,  at  the  New  England  Baptist  Library,  708  Ford 
Building,  Boston,  Mass. 


INDEX 


Abbott,    Elisha,    42-44. 

Abors,    72. 

Africa:  redemplion  of,  217;  loss  of 
life  in,  J 18;  heroism  of  mission- 
aries in,  219;  conquering  the  cli- 
mate of,  220;  possibilities  of,  221; 
importance  of,  222;  salaries  of 
teachers  in,  240;  opportunities  in, 

241- 

Africans:  gifted,  221;  pioneer  mis- 
sionaries, 223;  generous  Chris- 
tians,   229. 

Agricultural  Missions:  at  Kurnool, 
123;  in  India,  130;  at  Jaro,  263. 

Ahlone,  56. 

American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission 
Society,    28,    209,    224,    235,    239, 

American  Baptist  Missionary  Union, 

28,    99,    149,    182. 
American    Board    of    Commissioners 

for  Foreign  Missions,  25,  26,   iSi. 
American   Revolution,   3,    16. 
Amherst,    station   at,   35. 
Animism,    226,    227,    241. 
Annexation   of  Philippines,   247. 
Armstrong,   Rev.   W.   F.,  D.   D.,   56, 

57- 
Ashmore,  Rev.  William,  D.  D.,   151. 
Ashmore  Theological  Seminary,   163. 
Assam,    65-94. 
Assamese   converts,    74-76. 
Aungbinle,    31,    36. 
Ava,   31,   37. 


B 


Babies'  Doctor,  The,  129. 

Bacolod,   262. 

Banza   Manteke,    226,   235. 

Bapatla  Cooperative  Association,  121. 

Bapatla  Normal  School,   130. 

Baptists,    American:    preparation    of, 

ii_;   growth   of,    16;   organized   for 

missions,   28. 


Baptist  Missionary  Work  Compared, 

157-161,  209,  274. 
Baptist  Educational  Ideals,   160. 
Baptists,    English,    4,    g,    10,   24,   25, 

97.    132,   225,   235. 
Baptist  Principles,   11-14. 
Bassein,  42,  43. 
Bawden,   Rev.   S.   D.,   120. 
Bengal^Orissa  Mission,  131-133. 
Bengalis,  in  Assam,  68. 
P.ennett,   Rev.   Cephas,   51. 
Benninghoff,  Rev.  H.  B.,  205. 
Bhamo,   53. 
Bible,   translation   of,  9,   36,   70,   98, 

14s,   147,   15s,   182,   183,  226,  227, 

255-258. 
Bible-women,  work  of,  154,  196,  266. 
]5ickel,  Capt.  Luke  W.,  198-204. 
Bissinger,  Miss  C.   M.,  267. 
Bixby,  Moses  H.,  55. 
Bixby,  Josephine,  Hospital,   167. 
Boardman,   George  Dana,   35,   39-41, 

148. 
Boardman,  Sarahj  41. 
Bolles,   Rev.   Lucius,  27. 
Brahmaputra    River,    67. 
Briggs,  Rev.  C.  W.,  248,  252. 
British    and    Foreign    Bible    Society, 

10. 
British  East   India  Company,  7,    17, 

28. 
Bronson,  Miles,  72,  73,  tj,  88. 
Brown^  Nathan,  68,  70,   183,   184. 
Buddhists,    19,    30,    54,    56,    58,    I9S, 

202. 
Burmese    Bible,    36. 
Burma,    19,   30-59. 


Calcutta,   69. 

Campbell,   Sir  Archibald,  35. 

Canadian  Baptist  Mission,   iii. 

Capiz,   Home  School  at,   268,  269. 

Carpenter,  Rev.  H.  C,  43. 

Carey,   William,   4-10. 

Caste,  108,  120,  124-126. 


287 


288 


INDEX 


Chcngtu,    156,    163. 

China,    18,   08,    141-173. 

Chinese    Christians,     158,     159,     164, 

166,    168,    169. 
Chinese  in   Hurma,   56. 
C  hristian  Endeavor,    122. 
(lark,  Kev.  E.  W.,  D.  D.,  70. 
Clark,   Rev.  Joseph,  230. 
Clough,    Rev.  John   E.,   D.   D.,   107- 

1 12. 
Colman,   Rev.  James,  132. 
Conquest  of  Burma,  46. 
Congo  Free  State,  224,  225. 
Conscience,   freedom  of,    12. 
Cooperative    Missionary   Work,    163, 

193.    "94.   272. 
Corner  in   India,  A,  84. 
Cotton,    Rev.    John,    his   controversy 

with  Roger   Williams,   13. 
Curtis,  Sarah,  school  in  Tokyo,   185. 
Cutter,  O.  B.,  68. 
Cradle  roll,  129. 


Evangelism    in    Missions,    166,    185- 
188,  19s,  197-204,  228-231,  264. 


Famine:  in  Burma,  48;  in  India, 
1 1 2- 1 14. 

Feudalism  in  the  Philippines,  252. 

Field,  Miss  Adele,  Originator  of 
training  Bible-women,  154. 

Filipinos:  characteristics  of,  230; 
drunkenness  of,  252;  responsive- 
ness of,   254;   languages  of,  256. 

Forestry  taught  at  Donakonda,  122. 

Free    Baptists,    131,    132. 

Frederickson,    Mrs.   P.,  231. 

Friar  lands,   276. 

"  Fukuin  Maru,"  197-204. 

Fuller,  Andrew,  4,  5. 


D 


Dairying  and  Gardening  Taught,  122. 
Day,  Rev.  Samuel  F.,  98-100,  133. 
Dean,   Rev.   William,   148. 
Deanng,  Rev.  J.  L.,  D.  D.,  206. 
Deccan,   97,    115. 

Degenring,  Miss  Anna,  M.  D.,  129. 
Deputation  of  1853,  102. 
Dessa,  Miss  Amelia  E.,  122. 
Ditliridge,   Miss  Harriet,   188,    191. 
Donakonda,   forestry  at,   122. 
Dormitory  for  business  men,  206. 
Downie,  Rev.  David,  D.  D.,  iii. 
Dry   farming  in   India,   120. 
Duncan  Academy,   193. 


E 


Edwards,   Jonathan,   3. 

Edinburgh    Conference   of   Missions, 

208,  229. 
Education    an    evangelizing    agency, 

80,  8^,  III    158,  187-189,  192,  239. 
Educational  Alissions:  in  Burma,  50, 

51;     in    Assam,     79-82;    in     India, 

J30     131,    134;   in   China,    158164; 

in  Japan,   186-194,  205;  in  Africa, 

235-238;    in    the    Philippines,    262- 

270. 
Efficiency,    Edinburgh    standard    of, 

208,   209. 
Eubank,  Rev.  M.  D.,  M.  D.,  168. 
Eurasians:   in  Burma,   58;  in   India, 

loi. 


Garos,  68,  76,  78-86. 

Gauhati.    68,    75. 

Gifts  01  Tclugu  Christians,   ti6. 

Girls,  education  of,  8j,  86,  87,   iii, 

129,   186-191,  266-269. 
Goalpara,  76. 

Goble,  Rev.  Jonathan,  181. 
Goddard,  Rev.  J.   R.,  D.  D.,  155. 
Green,    Byram,   24. 


H 


Hakkas,    Missions    among    the,    153- 

167. 
Hall,  Gordon,  25,   26. 
Hangchow,    155. 
Hanyang,    167. 

Hanumakonda,   115,   n8,   126. 
Haystack  prayer-meeting,  23. 
Head-hunters,  68. 
Himeji,   188. 
Hinduism,  67,   108,   125. 
Hirata   San,  conversion  of,  201. 
HoUister,   Rev.   W.  H.,   131. 
Hopia  Tree,  grave  under,  36. 
Hospitals,     126-128,     15s,     162,     167, 

242    272. 
Hough,  Rev.  George,  34,  51. 
Huchow,    15!;,    167. 
Hyderabad,  Nizam  of,  97. 


Ikoko,  230,   23s. 

Industrial   Missions,  71,  84,    119-124, 
23^,  263,  264. 


INDEX 


289 


Ingalls,  Mrs.  Maria  B.,  57. 
Ingathering  of  Telugus,  113,  114. 
Inland   Sea,   work  on,   197. 
Ishihara   San,    190. 
Isle  of  France,  29. 


Lone  Star  Mission,  99,  103. 

Loomis,  Harvey,  24. 

Lotteries,    18. 

Lukunga,   ^35. 

Lund,  Rev.  Eric,  D.  D.,  255-258. 


Jaipur,  printing-press  at,   72. 

Japan:  transformation  of,  178;  in- 
fluence of  Christianity  in,  179;  in- 
troduction of  Christianity  in,  181; 
Inland  Sea  of,  197;  country  popu- 
lation of,  197;  University  dormi- 
tories of,  205;  extent  of  unreached 
territory  in,   207. 

Japanese  Christians,  186-188,  195, 
202. 

Taro,  259-263. 

Jewett,  Rev.  Lyman,  n.  D.,   100-107. 

Jones,  Rev.  John  Taylor,  147,  148. 
orhat,   school   at,  84. 
Judson,  Adoniram,  17,  25,  26-36,  99, 
100. 

Judson,  Ann  Hasseltine,  30-36,  147. 
ulia  of  Nellore,  loi,  104,  105. 


Kachins,    52-54. 

Kanagawa,    188. 

Kandura,   74. 

Karens:   38-53;  language  of,  37,  42; 

traditions  of,  38;  elevation  of,  38; 

trainirig  of,  42. 
Kemendine,  47,  50. 
Kengtung,   55. 
Kidder,  Miss  Anna  H.,  184. 
Kimpesi  Training   School,  235-238. 
Kincaid,  Eugenio,  46. 
Kindergartens,    188-191. 
Kinhwa,    155. 
Kityang,   156. 
Ko  Tha  Byu,  39,  40,  50. 
Kurnool,   123,   130. 
Kwantuug,  Missions  begun  in,  150. 


Lerrigo,  Rev.  P.  H.  J.,  M.  D.,  263. 

Lesher,  C.  B.,  M.  D.,  168. 

Levi,  Nidi,  74. 

Liberality  of  Native  Christians,   116, 

n8,    122,    157,    196,   229. 
Liuchiu    Islands,    194. 
Livingstone  Inland  Mission,  224. 
London  Missionary   Society,    10,   97, 


M 


Mabie,  Dr.  Catharine  L.,  236,  238. 

MacGowan,   1).   J.,   M.   D.,   155. 

Mackay,  Alexander,  219. 

Madigas,    109. 

Malas,    1 09. 

Madras,   29,   97,   98. 

Mandalay,   41,   59. 

Manila   Bay,  battle  of,  248. 

Manu,   Code  of,   108. 

Marshman,  Hannah,  8. 

Mass    Movements,    125. 

Maymyo,  59. 

McDiarmid,  Rev.  P.  A.,  335. 

Medical   Missions,   72,    126-130,    155, 

161,  167,  179,  241,  242,  270-273. 
Methodism,   3,    i8. 
Methodist     Missions,     158-161,     254, 

274- 
Mikirs,   67. 
Mills,  Samuel  J.,  23. 
Missionary  Organizations,   10. 
Moral      Conditions      of      Eighteenth 

Century,   18. 
Morioka,    190. 
Morning  Star,  The,  132. 
Morrison,    Robert,    144. 
Morton  Lane   School,   50. 
Moulmein,   44,   46,   59. 


N 

Nagas,  ()T. 

Naha,  church  at,   196. 

Nalgonda,    115. 

Nellore,  98,   100,   129. 

Newell,  Samuel,  25,  26. 

Nicolet,    Miss   Rose,   273. 

Ningpo,    15s. 

Northern    Baptist    Convention,    131, 

157. 
Nott,   Samuel,  25,  26. 
Nowgong,    74,    87. 
Noyes,   Rev.   Eli,   133. 
Nyaunglebin,  51. 


O 

Omed,   conversion  of,   77,   78. 
Ongole,  no,   in,   114,   122,  125,  130. 
Opium  traffic,   145. 


290 


INDEX 


Orphanages,  113. 

Osaka  Bible  School,   ig6. 

Uulcastcs,    lub-iiu,   124. 


Padre   Juan,   258. 

Palabala,  235. 

Paltnur,    115. 

Papacy,   17. 

Pariahs,    108. 

Paul,  the  apostle  of  the  Congo,  231. 

Peabody,   Miss  Lavinia,    iii. 

Perry,  Commodore,  expedition  of, 
178,  194. 

Philippine  Islands:  acquisition  of, 
248;  size  of,  248;  climate  (if,  249; 
people  of,  249,  250;  racial  unity 
and  divisions  of,  250,  251;  land 
question  in,  252;  peonage  in,  253; 
response  to  gospel  in,  254;  gov- 
ernment achievements  in,  275-277. 

Phillips,   E.   G.,   M.   i).,  80. 

Phillips,  Rev.  Jeremiah,   133. 

Phinney,  F.  D.,  51. 

Physicians,  women,  128,  129,  161. 

Pirates,  attack  of,   148. 

Poverty  in   India,    113-115. 

Prayer,  concert  of,  3,   180. 

Presbyterian  Missions,  160,  254,  275. 

Primitive  Peoples  of   lUirma,   5--55. 

Printing-press:  in  lUirma,  51;  in 
Assam,  72 ;  in  the  Philippines,  273. 


Q 

Queen's  Bible,  57. 


R 

Rajasimla,  78. 

Ramapatnani,  iii,  112,  129. 

Ramkhe,  77. 

Rangoon,   29,   30,  47,   57. 

Rangoon  Baptist  College,  50. 

Reea,   Henry,   steamboat,   224. 

Retrenchment,    106. 

Revival:  in  Assam,  90;  in  India, 
113;  in  Africa,  226;  in  the  Philip- 
pines,  259. 

Revolution  in  China,   142-144. 

Rice,    Luther,   25-28. 

Richards,  Rev.  Henry,  226-229. 

Richards,  James,   24. 

Robbins,  Francis  L.,  24. 

Roberts,   Rev.  Issacher,   140,   153. 

Roberts,  Rev.  W.  H.,  D.  D.,  53. 

Rungiah,   John,    118, 


Sadiya,  69,  71-73. 

Saint  Francis  of  Assisi,  23. 

Sandoway,   49. 

Santals,   134. 

Scott,  Anna  K.,  M.  D.,  167,  168. 

Secunderabad,  114. 

Self-support,  43,  44,  50,   114,   117. 

Sendai,  187. 

Seramporc  Mission,  7,  8,  25,  29. 

Shanghai  College  and  Seminary,  1O4. 

Shans,    54,    55     Go. 

Shuck,   Rev.  J.   L.,   149. 

Shwcgyin,  51. 

Siam,   37,    54,    146. 

Sibsagor,    73. 

Social  Service  in  Missions,  205,  206. 

Sooriapett,    115. 

Southern     Baptist     Convention,     28, 

149,  150,  164,  168,  182,  224. 
Stait,  Mrs.  F.  W.,  M.  D.,  128. 
Stoddard,   Rev.  I.  J.,  75,  78. 
Student  Hostels,  205,  262. 
Suifu,   156. 

Suman,   Aliss  Margaret,  268. 
Sunrise  Prayer-meeting,   104. 
Sutton,  Amos,   97,    132. 
Swatow,  167. 
Szechuan,   Mission  in,   155. 


Tai  Ping  Rebellion,  151,  152. 

Tamil  and  Telugu  emigrants,  56. 

Tavoy,  center  of  Karen  work^  39. 

Telugu  Baptist  Missionary  Society, 
118. 

Telugu  land,  97. 

Telugu  Mission,  97  f. 

Theological  Seminaries,  iii,  163-165, 
202,   237. 

Thomas,  Jacob,  73. 

Thomas,  John,  M.  D.,  7. 

Thomson,  Rev.  R.  A.,  195. 

Thomson,  Mrs.   R.  A.,   189. 

Ting  Li  Mei,   160. 

Tokyo:  home  school  in.  185;  board- 
ing-school and  kindergarten  in, 
186-192;  Duncan  Academy  in,  193; 
theological  _  seminary  in,  194; 
tabernacle  in,  204. 

Tong  Tsing  En,    164. 

Topping,  Mrs.  Genevieve,  190. 

Toungoo,  54. 

Training  School :_  in  Cliina,  162;  in 
Tokyo,  190;  in  Osaka,  196;  in 
Kimpesi,  235;  in  Jaro,  266;  in 
Iloilo,   272, 

Triennial  Convention,  28,  30. 


INDEX 


291 


Tsukiji  Kindergarfeii,   189. 
Tura,    8o-8j. 
Tshumbiri,  236,  239. 

U 

Uchida  San,  first  Japanese  Woman 
Christian,    184. 

Udayagiri,   129. 

Union  in  Missionary  Work,  163,  193, 
272. 

United  States  of  America,  popula- 
tion of,  in  1813,  17. 

V 

Vedder,   Henry   C,   his   estimate   of 

Carey,  8. 
Verbeck,     Guido,     influence     of,     in 

Japan,   178. 
Vinton,  Justus,  44-49. 
Visayans,  252,  256,  257. 

W 

Wade,  Jonathan,  34,  39-42.  148. 
Wallis,    Widow,    meeting    in    parlor 
of,  7. 


Wascda  University,  205. 
Wataiiabe,    Mrs.,    189. 
Weavers'  caste.  120. 
Webb,    Miss   Marv,    10. 
Wellwood,  Rev.   Robert,   168. 
Welsh  Mission,  in  Assam,  92. 
White,     F.     T.,     President     Shanghai 

College,    164. 
Williams   College,   23. 
Williams,   Roger,    12-15. 
Williams,   S.   Wells,    179. 
Williams,  Rev.  William  R.,  100. 
Woman,    degradation    of^    81. 
Woman  s    Missionary    Societies,    10, 

56,  161,  i6j,  165,  184,  189. 
Women:    heroism    of,    76,    89,    117, 

184,  196,  217;  disabilities  of,  127. 


Yokohama  Theological  Seminary,  202. 
Yu,  Miss  Dora,  166,  167. 


Zenrin  Kindergarten,  189. 


^j,   5,m.na'>  Sp«"    l'l>'»1 


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1    1012  01102  2607 


^^ 

^-^    DATE  DUE 

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^w^ 

HIGHSMITH  #^ 

J5230 

Primed 
In  USA 

